President Trump criticized Democrats Monday for preventing aid to other states until Puerto Rico receives more disaster relief money, which is still recovering from a 2017 hurricane that killed 3,000 people.
“Puerto Rico has been given more money by Congress for Hurricane Disaster Relief, 91 Billion Dollars, than any State in the history of the U.S. As an example, Florida got $12 Billion & Texas $39 Billion for their monster hurricanes,” the president tweeted.
“Now the Democrats are saying NO Relief to Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and others unless much more money is given to Puerto Rico. The Dems don’t want farmers to get any help. Puerto Rico should be very happy and the Dems should stop blocking much needed Disaster Relief,” he said.
Mr. Trump may be reacting to statements made by Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who said on Sunday he was turning down an invitation to a White House ceremony this week because of the president’s response to Hurricane Maria’s devastation.
“The government has done some things back home that are great, but we still have a long ways to go. That’s our reality. It’s pretty tough to go celebrate when we’re where we’re at. I’d rather not go and be consistent with everything,” Mr. Cora, a native Puerto Rican, said.
A GOP sponsored bill to assist flooding in the Midwest failed 44-49 in the Senate early April after Democrats said Puerto Rico would not be given the money needed to continue storm recovery efforts.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló in March dismissed Mr. Trump’s price tag of 91 billion dollars, saying the president was going off of “misleading information from his own staff.”
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.