Try our new search engine

Congress Approves Disaster Relief Bill

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 12) -- Republican knees buckled on Capitol Hill as the disaster relief bill finally passed both chambers by big margins. With polls stacked against them, GOP congressional leaders backed off on provisions that had stalled the measure for weeks.

President Bill Clinton is expected to sign the bill, which passed the House by a 348-74 margin and by 78-21 in the Senate.

In the end, the Republican rank and file decided their strategy to use the bill to pass several controversial measures was not working.

Republicans thought the political appeal of the bill, designed to bring aid to flood victims in the Midwest, would overwhelm opposition to two GOP-sponsored provisions: to keep another budget impasse from shutting down the government, and to bar the Census Bureau from using statistical sampling techniques (rather than a full population count).

They were wrong, though the leadership insists on making the case for the provisions. "These are not minor issues," House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on the House floor. "These are not political games. Keeping open the American government and insuring that every citizen is counted are important to the people of this country."

The census provision was dropped, and the GOP got congressional Democrats to promise not to block an up-or-down vote on government shutdowns, what could amount to a worthless concession, given Clinton's opposition.

Gleeful Democrats immediately began gibing Republicans. "They called for help," said Democratic Whip David Bonior of the flooded Midwesterners. "They asked us to do something to help them. And what did Republicans do? Well, they hijacked the disaster relief bill, they loaded it up like a pack horse with extraneous measures, to advance their own partisan political agenda."

"This should have been done before the Memorial Day recess," House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt said of the deal. "People out in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, have had to live in uncertainty, which is the last thing you want in a case like this."

Clinton took a slightly higher road. "I applaud the United States Congress for passing the disaster relief bill that the families of the Midwest and other parts of the country desperately need. I am especially pleased that the Congressional majority heeded the call of common sense by ensuring that the people who need this assistance will get it, and by ensuring that the controversial and extraneous provisions of the bill were dropped. Anyone who has toured the flood-ravaged areas of the Midwest, as I have, knows that these needed funds will help put America's families and communities on the road to recovery."

Some $5.6 billion in disaster relief supported by both parties had been held up since Monday, when Clinton vetoed an $8.6 billion bill, citing the two GOP-backed provisions. The measure will provide the full funding of the original bill.

Closure can not come too soon for battered Republicans, as a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows 55 percent of Americans blame the GOP Congress for holding up disaster relief, while 25 percent blame the president.

The GOP's wall of solidarity began to crack when 20 House Republicans, mostly moderates, sent a letter to Gingrich urging surrender or compromise, anything, so long as it happened soon.

The letter warned the speaker that the GOP strategy "is slipping and Republicans are losing the public relations war."

It was a grim picture for Republicans, and Democrats were intent on keeping it that way, shutting down Senate business on everything but disaster relief.

"We've got a short construction season in our part of the country," said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). "By October 15, outdoor work will have had to be completed. So we don't have time for political games to be played here in Washington."

CNN's Candy Crowley contributed to this report.