See that wasn't so hard

Looks like they figured out how to fund relief efforts in Flint and in Louisiana without having to burn the whole country down after all.

Negotiations resulted in the Senate attaching $220 million for Flint on an unrelated water infrastructure bill that it sent to the House last week. The lower chamber, Scalise said, plans to authorize $170 million in aid to Flint with the expectation that details will be hammered out in a congressional conference after the Nov. 8 election.

"I am convinced there is going to be help for Flint in the lame-duck (session). They've been waiting for help, they deserve help and I'm very happy it's going to come," Reid said.

The funding bill also includes emergency funding to fight the Zika virus.

Louisiana officials have described the $500 million as a "down payment" to help the thousands of residents and businesses wiped out by the devastating mid-August floods. Gov. John Bel Edwards has estimated damage to total as much as $8.7 billion. Thirteen people lost their lives and FEMA has received thousands of applications for emergency aid.

The "down payment," it is hoped by the governor, will be a first step toward an eventual $2.6 billion package. I'm still pretty skeptical as whether that will be enough in any case.  But let's keep our fingers crossed, for now, that we even get that much.