Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signaled Tuesday that he is ready for a fight on the matter. During remarks on the Senate floor, he vowed to insert the Senate language into the House bill as soon as it comes to the Senate. “Tomorrow, when the Senate receives the House bill to fund the government for six more weeks, we will amend it with the language of the Senate FEMA legislation,” Reid said. “Of course, I know this amendment will enjoy the support of my Republican colleagues, as it did just last week, when a bipartisan group of senators agreed that helping communities destroyed by natural disasters was too important to let politics get in the way,” he added.

But House Republican leaders say they can’t pass what Reid wants, which they say means the onus is on Senate Democrats to either pass the House continuing resolution as is or be at fault for delaying desperately needed disaster money to the Federal Emergency Management Administration. FEMA’s disaster relief fund has dropped so low that the agency has already stopped approving long-term reconstruction projects in order to prioritize its resources for immediate emergency needs. “It’ll be on Leader Reid’s shoulders, because he’s the one playing politics with it,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters Tuesday. “No one wants to stand in the way of disaster relief that’s needed. There’s nothing else but politics going on here.”