Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, on Wednesday said he hopes Hurricane Harvey relief funding will be a clean bill, but said he is skeptical Congress can pull it off.
Castro, a guest on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," said he fears some Republicans will want to include border wall funding in any relief package for Houston.
"Texas will probably need a supplemental package in the tens of billions of dollars, and I hope we can support that as Republicans and Democrats, and really learn a lesson not to get into the divisiveness that characterized the Superstorm Sandy relief package," Castro told "Morning Joe."
The Texas Congressman was referring to the hurricane that battered the northeast back in 2012 and the battle that ensued to approve funding.
"I hope there are no games that are played in terms of the funding," Castro told "Morning Joe."
"In the back of my mind, I keep thinking it's possible that some legislators — and hopefully not the president — may want to put the border wall funding in a package for Texas," Castro said. "I hope we can rule that out, but unfortunately in today's politics, in today's Congress, I don't know that we can.
"I hope that it will be a clean bill that only affects disaster-related things as Superstorm Sandy bill did back then," Castro said.
Castro's remarks echo that of his peer, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who said Tuesday it would be "beyond the pale" for any lawmaker to play games with emergency funding for Houston.
Castro also fears the secondary effects that have been caused by the epic flooding to hit Texas.
"The most immediate problems now . . . have to do with secondary effects," Castro said. "Because this storm has gone on so long now, you have people with medical conditions . . . whose conditions are worsening. Also people who either didn't stock up on food, or who stocked up on food, but not for a week, and now are running out of food."
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