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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

House passes hurricane relief-govt funding bill, sends to president; Simpson votes yes, Labrador misses vote

The U.S. House today passed the Hurricane Harvey relief/government funding bill on a 316-90 vote, sending the measure to President Trump, who has pledged to sign it. Idaho 2nd District GOP Rep. Mike Simpson voted yes; 1st District GOP Rep. Raul Labrador was among 27 House members who didn’t vote.

The measure, part of a deal struck by Trump and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, avoids a government shutdown and raises the debt ceiling through December; it also approves more than $15 billion in disaster relief funding related to Hurricane Harvey.

The Hill reports that a majority of House Republicans voted for the bill, but more of the votes in favor came from Democrats; all Democrats who were present for the vote voted in favor. All 90 “no” votes were from Republicans.

Todd Winer, communications director for Labrador, said, “He would have voted against it.” Labrador has long been an opponent of measures to raise the debt ceiling that aren’t tied to spending cuts. The bill passed the Senate overwhelmingly yesterday with Idaho’s two GOP senators splitting their votes; Sen. Mike Crapo voted yes, while Sen. Jim Risch was among 17 GOP senators voting “no.”



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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