President Trump is requesting that nearly $6 billion be made available for the Harvey recovery process.
The administration urged Congress
on Thursday to approve and provide $5.95 billion for the initial
response and recovery efforts related to the devastating hurricane
affecting parts of Texas and Louisiana, Axios reported.
A senior administration official told the website
that White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney will be calling
Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill this week, asking them for
their support on the funding plan.
The official added that the Trump administration
believes the requested amount will be more than enough to support
hurricane recovery efforts until year's end.
If approved by Congress, $5.5 billion would go to the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for its disaster relief
operations and $450 million to the Small Business Administration to
assist affected businesses.
To access the funding, the U.S. debt limit would have to be increased – a move that would aim at lowering the risk of default, Bloomberg Politics reported.
A separate official told the news site that the White
House was looking to extend the limit long enough to move back the
threat of default until Congress is able to draft a budget for the full
federal fiscal year.
Trump has expressed his desire to move swiftly on
recovery efforts and rebuild damaged areas in Houston and southeast
Texas. Some Democrats have said that the area could need more than $150
billion in federal aid. The initial request is expected to be a down
payment on a larger federal aid package, the Washington Post reported.
The news came on the same day that President Trump
pledged $1 million of his personal money to aid victims of Hurricane
Harvey in both Texas and Louisiana.
“The president is pledging a million dollars of
personal money to help,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told
reporters Thursday.
Sanders said the president asked that she “check
with” reporters for “suggestions” on groups and organizations that would
be “best and most effective in providing aid.”
The press secretary was asked whether Trump would pay the $1 million from his personal funds, or from the Trump Organization.
“I know the president said he was going to give — I
don’t know the legal part of exactly that, but he said his personal
money,” Sanders answered. “So I assume that comes directly from him.”
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed reporting to this story.
Perry Chiaramonte is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @perrych