House passes long-delayed $19.1 billion disaster aid bill

Washington — The House finally approved a $19.1-billion bill to dispatch relief funds to disaster-hit communities across the U.S., sending the long-delayed legislation to President Trump’s desk for his signature. 

Following the Senate’s overwhelming approval last month, which ended months of stalemate, lawmakers in the House passed the legislation by a vote of 354 to 58 on Monday. All those voting against the bill were Republicans.

The multi-billion-dollar aid package, which had been blocked during Congress’ recent recess by three dissenting Republican congressmen, is expected to be signed by the president, who has backed off his rigid opposition to additional hurricane recovery funding for Puerto Rico. 

If signed, the disaster package will deliver federal aid to farmers in southern states still struggling after Hurricane Michael’s devastation, wildfire victims in California, low-income Puerto Ricans facing food assistance cuts and rural communities in Midwestern states like Iowa and Missouri recovering from floods. 

Its approval by Congress and the White House would also mark the culmination of months of gridlock — especially in the Senate — over one of the few areas of bipartisan agreement in Congress. The legislation stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate for months, as GOP senators were hesitant to support a package that included additional recovery funding for Puerto Rico, something the president initially opposed. 

After months of back-and-forth and relentless finger-pointing, Democrats successfully included $300 million in Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants for Puerto Rico, in addition to $600 million in funds for the nutritional program on the island, which is still recovering from a pair of devastating earthquakes in 2017. 

Additionally, a senior Democratic aide told CBS News that lawmakers in the party secured language in the legislation to bar funding from being appropriated to other projects, a move aimed at preventing the administration from diverting funds to build the president’s long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Rebecca Kaplan contributed to this report.