Houston news

WASHINGTON - The victims of Hurricane Harvey and other natural disasters would get long-sought relief under the budget deal brokered Wednesday by Senate leaders.

The Senate agreement could provide nearly $90 billion in aid for Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and other states and territories hit by storms and wildfires. That would be about a 10 percent bump from the $81 billion disaster aid package passed in December by the House.

The new funding, if adopted by the House, also would represent a major legislative breakthrough for all of the areas in need of assistance, including fire-ravaged California. Until now, even the smaller emergency spending measure had been caught up in a larger budget battle over immigration and government spending levels.

The new two-year budget deal is now likely to be considered on its own, with Senate Republican leaders promising Democrats to consider separate legislation on the fate of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which had been a major sticking point until now.

By postponing the debate over "Dreamers" - immigrants brought into the country illegally as children - negotiators also hoped to break an impasse blocking the fifth short-term spending measure since October.

The latest extension would fund the government past Thursday's deadline until March 23 - avoiding another shutdown - while giving lawmakers in both chambers time to approve the long-term budget deal with the disaster aid.

While the Senate package contains more relief dollars, it is still not as much as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and lawmakers in other storm hit areas would like.

Texas officials have estimated the damage from Harvey at upwards of $120 billion, and the new disaster bill, like an earlier $35 billion appropriation, directs resources to all of the disaster regions, including Florida and Puerto Rico.

Altogether, Congress has approved about $50 billion in aid so far to help in the recovery from Harvey and other natural calamities in 2017. The latest funding proposal would bring that up to $140 billion.

Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, has pushed for more money to be directed to Texas and the Gulf region hit by Harvey, though he did not publicly specify an amount.

In a floor speech Wednesday, Cornyn called the budget agreement "long overdue," saying the new aid package would "strengthen" the House-passed disaster bill.

Houston Republican John Culberson, who helped craft the House-passed disaster bill in December, said the additional spending in the Senate package could be a boon both for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local property owners.

"That would mean property owners would get relief much more quickly and the Corps will have the money they need to finish every federally authorized flood control project in Harris County," he said.

Meanwhile, Florida lawmakers also have been pressing for more recovery funds from Hurricane Irma, which hit the Sunshine State shortly after Harvey made landfall near Galveston.

Officials in Puerto Rico, devastated by Hurricane Maria, also have been pleading for more aid. Their requests have been championed by Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who announced Wednesday's deal with GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The additional disaster funding includes $4.9 billion to increase Medicaid caps for Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands for two years, along with program requirements.

But the regional scrum for money was not the only factor in the Senate delay. Once GOP leaders decided to attach the disaster aid in a broader 2018 budget deal, it became entangled in the fight over Dreamers, with both sides blaming each other for the standoff that left storm victims in a long legislative limbo.

"It's simply been unacceptable to see the delay in getting the relief that they need to them," Cornyn said Wednesday. "But now we have the chance to stand up finally in a bipartisan fashion and to show them not only that we remember what they've been through, but that more help is on the way."