House Democrats' Efforts to Pass $19B Disaster Aid Bill Without a Recorded Vote Blocked for Third Time

The House of Representatives convened briefly on Thursday afternoon for the third and final pro forma session of the House’s 10-day Memorial Day recess, and for the third time Democrats’ attempt to pass a $19.1 disaster relief bill by unanimous consent was blocked by a Republican, who blasted the move as “a tricky parliamentary tactic.”

Most House lawmakers have been back home for their “district work period” since last Thursday and won’t return to the Capitol until Monday, which is the earliest the House could take up the disaster relief bill for a recorded vote (perhaps under the fast-track “suspension of the rules” process).

When Democratic leadership announced there would be no more recorded votes and began the recess last week, a deal hadn’t been reached on disaster relief. But later that afternoon a deal was reached between bipartisan negotiators and President Donald Trump, enabling the Senate to pass the bill on an 85-8 vote.

Today’s request to pass the bill by unanimous consent was made by Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA) and the objection, raised by Rep. John Rose (R-TN), echoed the sentiment of objections made by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) last Friday and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Tuesday. Rose explained that he wanted to be able to go on record about the vote, and elaborated about his objection on the floor with Massie seated nearby:

“Nearly all of my 431 colleagues are absent as the Speaker of the House seeks to pass a $19 billion spending bill. Our nation is $22 trillion in debt. Trying to pass nearly $20 billion in new spending while the majority of Congress is not even in Washington reflects another act of irresponsible big government.... Every single member could board a plane today and this issue could be voted on in the next 12 hours… I never expected when I came to Washington that I would be asked to stay home while $19 billion is spent without my vote. I urge the Speaker of the House, who is also not here today, to return to her post and call Congress back to Washington to do the people’s work.”

While the disaster relief bill was blocked, the House passed a two-week extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) by unanimous consent. That sends it to President Donald Trump’s desk to be signed into law and prevent the NFIP’s authorization from lapsing at midnight Friday.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / uschools)