Federal money is still on hold that would help tens of thousands of flooded Midwesterners bail out and rebuild their homes and businesses. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin says he’s not sure a supplemental spending bill will pass in the Senate before Congress adjourns Friday for the Independence Day holiday.
"We’re going to try to finish it before we leave tomorrow but I just don’t know if we can get it done and our 2.65 billion dollars we have in there for flood relief will be in that package," Harkin says. "If not, it’ll be done in the second week of July. Will it hold up the money? Yeah, for a couple of weeks, but as soon as we get it passed, that money will be coming out rapidly." The flood aid measure is part of a war supplemental spending bill that passed the House last week.
Senator Tom Harkin says both the U.S. House and Senate passed resolutions this week, offering condolences to the families of the four Boy Scouts who were killed by a tornado in western Iowa, and praising the courage of those who rescued their friends and performed first aid.
Harkin says, "Both Senator Grassley and I are chief sponsors of the resolution honoring the Boy Scouts that were so heroic up by Little Sioux." Three of the four Scouts who died were from Omaha. The fourth victim was 14-year-old Aaron Eilerts of Eagle Grove, Iowa.
About four-dozen boys and leaders were injured in the tornado June 11th that hit the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in Harrison County.