HUFF POST: …“Eric Cantor, a Republican from Virginia, started this fight when he said we cannot fund the 2011 disasters without an offset,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) on the Senate floor Monday.
Then the offsets turned out to be a non-issue when FEMA announced it would not run out of money early this week, as expected. The agency shook up the debate on Monday when officials said current disaster relief funds could last until the end of the week, eliminating the need for emergency money. A FEMA official said the agency recouped about $40 million last weekend when funds were returned to the agency from completed projects.
Because FEMA can apparently stay afloat until the first day of the new fiscal year, Oct. 1, the House and Senate may be able to agree on a clean continuing resolution with no offsets or emergency aid funding. Leaders of the two houses had already agreed to an overall government spending figure last month. And now the Senate has passed a clean stopgap funding bill… (more)
