WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s initial request for a multibillion-dollar down payment for initial Harvey recovery efforts is growing. Republican leaders are making plans to use the aid package to win speedy approval of a contentious increase in the federal borrowing limit.

A senior House Republican, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deliberations were private, disclosed the approach. It ignores objections from House conservatives who are insisting that disaster money for Harvey should not be paired with the debt limit increase. Other senior GOP aides cautioned that no final decision had been made, and Democrats, whose votes would be needed in the Senate, have not signed off on the approach.

A senior GOP source in Washington said Friday that Trump’s request to refill rapidly shrinking Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster coffers is going up by about $2 billion, bringing the total for the disaster aid package to about $8 billion.

For GOP lawmakers who support a straightforward increase in the debt limit, pairing it with Harvey money makes the unpopular vote easier to cast. Congress must act by Sept. 29 to increase the United States’ $19.9 trillion debt limit, in order to permit the government to continue borrowing money to pay bills like Social Security and interest payments. Failing to raise the debt limit would risk a market-shattering first-ever U.S. default.

The government’s cash reserves are running low since the nation’s debt limit has actually already been reached, and the Treasury Department is using various accounting measures to cover expenses. Billions of dollars in Harvey aid are an unexpected cost that raises the potential Congress will have to act sooner to increase the government’s borrowing authority.

The initial package of Harvey aid would replenish Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster funds through Sept. 30.