FEMA Granted $2.65 billion, Government Shutdown Averted

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that the latest Senate deal to avert a complete Federal shutdown will be a “win for everyone.”

After about a week of bickering between the Republican and Democrats in the House and Senate over budget cuts to green programs to fund disaster relief, a deal struck offers a compromise, The Washington Post reports.

The conciliatory deal, approved 79-12 in the Senate and expected to be ratified in the House next week, provides less money than Democrats hoped for disaster relief but also strips away “green” cuts that had been their bane in passage. The bill will keep the Federal government operating until Nov. 18.

This marks the third budget battle to cause Congressional contention and threaten markets of an economy already wrought with problems.

The major controversy in passing the spending bill came when Democrats demanded that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) be funded at least $3.65 billion, $1 billion of which would have been put toward the fiscal year that ends on Friday. Republicans agreed to the expense only if $1.6 billion in cuts were made elsewhere and set their sights on a “green” auto program that many Democrats supported. The ensuing fight threatened FEMA with no money, so the agency told members of Congress that it could go without the $1 billion for this week if it were allowed to tap into $2.65 billion in Federally granted money between Friday and Nov. 18.