On Thursday, the Senate voted 80-17 to authorize a $15.3 billion aid package for victims of Hurricane Harvey. This was almost double the amount that President Trump had requested and what the House had already approved. Now it goes back to the House for a vote on the Senate version.
Trump stunned Republican leaders when he quickly agreed to Democratic leaders' (Churck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi) request to raise the debt ceiling for a 3 months period, instead of the 18 months Republicans asked for. This was coupled with the disaster relief in a single bill.
The significance of this is that they will have to do the must-pass debt ceiling vote again at the end of December, giving Democrats another chance to make demands in exchange for their votes -- if they choose to play politics, as Republicans would certainly do themselves.
So what's this new alignment of Trump with Democrats? Is it a strategy, or is he just mad at McConnell and Ryan? Probably the latter. Who knows?
Ralph
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