Club for Growth president David McIntosh (left) said if Republicans load up the bill with too much spending, the organization would consider whipping against it. | Andrew Harnik/AP Top conservative wants spending cuts to pay for Harvey aid

A top conservative leader may fight against a massive emergency relief bill for Hurricane Harvey victims if it’s not paid for.

Club for Growth President David McIntosh said in an interview Thursday that he and other fiscal conservatives are warily eyeing congressional leaders' plans to deliver billions of dollars to coastal Texas after the storm's floods devastated Houston and surrounding towns.


And McIntosh, a former GOP congressman from Indiana, said conservatives are worried that Congress will spend billions without paying for it with spending cuts elsewhere in the government.

“The ideal is that it would be offset with savings in other areas. The worst thing that we’ve seen in the past is where emergency spending for Harvey becomes an excuse for other spending that other people want to get through," McIntosh said. “We’d want it to be paid for and not use pork barrel spending."

Several aides to conservative lawmakers said it is not yet clear whether fiscal conservatives in Congress can get behind the tactic given how quickly Texas needs money.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), for example, has said he will fight for the cleanest possible legislation but has not demanded that the bill be entirely paid for. Some Texas Democrats have said the state will need more than $100 billion from Congress, which would require massive cuts if the cost of the bill were to be offset.

Both Meadows and McIntosh also say that the hurricane aid bill should not be attached to a debt ceiling increase required in the next month.

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In 2013, many fiscal conservatives fought to cut spending across the government to pay for relief from Hurricane Sandy. Their effort failed, though most Republicans voted against the bill.

McIntosh, whose group is highly influential in conservative circles, said it was too early to say whether the Club for Growth would urge lawmakers to reject a bill that isn't paid for. But he said if Republicans load up the bill with too much spending, the organization would consider whipping against it.

“Clearly, something’s going to have to be done, it's devastating," McIntosh said of aid for hurricane victims. But "the more extraneous spending that's on [the bill], the more it becomes about that" rather than disaster relief.

Rachael Bade contributed to this report.