A request for $2 million in emergency funding for Chinese drywall failed to move forward in the U.S. Senate late Thursday after procedural wrangling blocked its advance.
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The funding had been requested by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., in order to expedite testing by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and other federal agencies of tainted Chinese drywall suspected of causing corrosion and possible health problems.

Senate budget writers signed off on including the $2 million request in a consolidated bundle of amendments offered late Thursday to the supplemental budget bill. The budget bill, which had been debated all week, was set for a vote before the Senate adjourned for its Memorial Day recess.

However, the consolidated package which included the drywall funding — was objected to on the Senate floor by several yet-unidentified Senators, blocking its passage. The measure, which needed a unanimous voice vote to move forward, was therefore killed.

A frustrated Nelson told his fellow Senators that the drywall problem could not wait for action.

“We can’t get this passed here since we are in gridlock over this supplemental appropriations bill and we are down to the wire,” Nelson said on the Senate floor.

However, while the amendment did not make it through, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hawaii Democrat Daniel Inouye, pledged Thursday night to help direct the CPSC to get the necessary testing done using its current budget.

“I can assure my colleague that the full impact of my office will be at his disposal,” Inouye said to Nelson in the Senate chamber. He also indicated that more drywall-related money could be allocated in the future.

Illinois Democrat Richard Durbin, who chairs the appropriations subcommittee that handles the CPSC’s budget, also offered his support.

“Let’s get this analyzed as quickly as possible, and if it poses any danger we ought to know it,” Durbin said.

The CPSC said during a Senate hearing Thursday morning that resources were being moved around that could allow testing of the drywall to still begin in case the $2 million did not materialize.

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