WASHINGTON — Less than two weeks after Hurricane Harvey started pummeling the Texas Gulf Coast, the House overwhelmingly approved a nearly $7.9 billion recovery aid package on Wednesday for Texas and neighboring Louisiana

The $7.85 billion package includes $7.4 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund and $450,000 for the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program. It is only the first tranche of what will likely be tens of billions of dollars in federal aid to the areas hit by Harvey.

The Senate is expected to attach a short-term debt limit extension to the disaster aid package. President Trump endorsed a plan Wednesday proposed by Democratic leaders that would extend the debt ceiling by three months and avoid a government shutdown until December.

The federal government needs an increase in the debt limit to continue paying its bills.

“There are three critically important things before us that need be done very quickly: pass disaster relief legislation to allow us to rebuild from Harvey and prepare for future disasters like Irma; prevent a default so that those emergency resources can actually get to Americans who need them; and keep the government funded," Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor Wednesday.

Some conservatives complain,however, disaster recovery aid should be offset with spending cuts in other federal programs and raising the debt limit should be a separate debate.

“The idea of coupling an increase in the debt ceiling with a Harvey spending bill is ... abhorrent,” said David McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth, in a statement Tuesday.

Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, called the possibility of the Senate linking the two “a little unsettling and even more frustrating.”

Walker complained on Fox News on Tuesday of a “backroom deal’’ between McConnell of Kentucky and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

“You know we're grateful that in Texas the flood waters continue to recede, but here in the swamp, it looks like they continue to rise,’’ he said.

Schumer and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California pushed for the plan to attach the Harvey disaster aid package and a three-month debit limit increase, and Trump endorsed it at a Wednesday meeting with congressional leaders.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., had criticized the Democratic proposal.

"I think that's a ridiculous idea," he said Wednesday, before the White House meeting. "We've got all this devastation in Texas, a Hurricane in Florida, and they want to play politics with the debt ceiling? I think that's ridiculous and disgraceful that they want to play politics with the debt ceiling."

The House will ultimately have to vote on the revised Senate measure before the relief money would begin flowing.

Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said he's likely to support the aid package when it returns from the Senate as expected with the debt ceiling attached.

He said raising the debt ceiling appears to be necessary to cover the borrowing required to fund disaster aid. If it was any other scenario, he said, there would be overwhelming opposition to raising the debt ceiling without cutting spending.

“But in this case, it’s a necessary thing to do," said Arrington, who served as deputy federal coordinator for Gulf Coast rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. “And for that I think most people are going to just hold their nose and accept that ... We’re not going to play politics with people’s lives. We’re going to get them the money."

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The House vote comes amid the looming threat from Hurricane Irma, which is churning toward Florida with wind speeds of 185 miles per hour.

Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he doesn’t expect funds to be diverted to cover Irma damages.

“Every state hit deserves to be recognized and to be taken care of. We do want the focus to stay on the devastating impact that Harvey had on the state of Texas," he said, adding that the Texas delegation will continue to push for more aid. “But at the end of the day we’re all Americans and wherever a hurricane hits in the United States of America, Americans are going to respond."

Contributing: Erin Kelly, Eliza Collins and Deirdre Shesgreen