says it wants federal spending on relief for hurricane harvey to be tied to raising the debt limit. the move sets up a potentially fierce political battle. the ultra conservative wing of the gop doesn t want to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts which means they would have to vote against aid for texas if the debt ceiling and harvey aid are tied together. the white house has already asked congress to approve a $7.8 billion package as parts of an initial as part of an initial request for funds. a request for more is expected later this month. the death toll hurt hurricane harvey standing at 53. thousands of people are still unable to return home. tens of thousands of others still living in shelters and relying on aid. in the last few years, the evacuation zoone around the arkema chemical plant was lifted after a blaze. there s no additional risk to
we raise the debt limit. if congress appropriates the money but i don t have the ability to borrow more and pay for it, we re not going to be able to get that money to the state. that was treasury secretary mnuchin over the weekend. the trump administration says it wants federal spending on relief for hurricane harvey to be tied to raising the debt limit. the move setting up a potentially fierce political battle. the ultra conservative wing of the gop does not want to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts which means they would have to vote against aid for texas if the debt ceiling and harvey aid are tied together. now the white house has already asked congress to approve a $7.8 billion package as parts of an initial request for funds. a request for more cash is expected later this month. the death toll for hurricane harvey now stands at 53. thousands are unable to return home. tens of thousands of others are still living in shelters and relying on aid. in just the last fe
issue. kevin, is the administration trying to do too much too fast and just in one week? i spoke with the rnc chairwoman earlier this week and she said the biggest victory they ve had was appointing someone to the supreme court. they had to use the political nuclear option. the sources i spoke to on capitol hill told me that on monday night there is going to be a house freedom caucus meeting. the ultra conservative wing of the republican party, they are going to meet and talk about whether or not there is a health care bill. this was the key part of what republicans ran on. not just to take back the white house but also to take the house and the senate, they said that they needed a republican-controlled majority in order to reform parts of obamacare. they have to now do that. and i think that what you re seeing is privately behind the scenes growing understanding that they have to get something done because forget about 20 sla20 for second. it s not just about the white
apprentice. like we didn t know who it was going to be. humiliate them in public. that was a very conventional ceremony in the east room of the white house and much more than they have done so far out of the trump administration. it had a reveal quality to it. it did have the reveal but everybody knew who it was going to be so there was no reas a rule. probably to receive positive reaction in the conservative wing of the country. donald trump has been at war with republicans on some issue. he certainly is at war with democrats. no president can succeed about wthat support from their own party. i think this pick gives him a lot of goodwill with the conservative wing, the establishment conservative wing of the party for a good long while. and maybe they want it out there to make sure that this pick would be received the way it universal has been. and opposite of the first week where everything was coming at you fast. he said, look, here it comes. we are going to show you the
is this omb chief pick, who obviously comes from a more conservative wing of the party. he is someone who has been, who is perceived, i think rightly so, who puts a pencil and pen to the paper to figure out where money is going. not only do democrats have their concern. it raises, i would imagine, some concerns among some of mr. trump s independent supporters who believe a big infrastructure spend and other things should be a par of what we doi going forward. there s probably confusion in policy circles. you can imagine what the traditional party thinking is in some of the caucus meetings taking place since the election. a lot of conflicting signals, really, with what donald trump is aing he wants to do with infrastructure and defense and other areas and also, again, some of the cabinet selections he s made. you talk about omb and tax cuts. yeah, and tax cuts and military spending and domestic