Florida’s Republican senators have requested for federal funding to assist with aid after Hurricane Ian ripped by way of the state ― regardless of neither lawmaker voting on Thursday for billions in catastrophe aid, a few of which might go towards hurricane restoration efforts.
On Friday, Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott despatched a joint letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee chairs asking for funding to “present a lot wanted help to Florida.” The letter was first reported by the Tallahassee Democrat.
“Hurricane Ian can be remembered and studied as one of the devastating hurricanes to hit america. Communities throughout Florida have been fully destroyed, and lives have been endlessly modified,” the senators wrote.
“A sturdy and well timed federal response, together with by way of supplemental applications and funding, can be required to make sure that enough sources are supplied to rebuild crucial infrastructure and public companies capability, and to help our fellow Floridians in rebuilding their lives.”
However simply at some point earlier, Scott and Rubio refused to vote for such extra funding. The stopgap spending invoice that the Senate handed on Thursday contains about $18.8 billion in extra funding for the Federal Emergency Administration Company to answer Hurricane Ian and future disasters.
All 25 senators who refused to vote for the invoice had been Republicans. Scott voted towards it, and Rubio didn’t vote in any respect. The Home additionally handed the invoice, with Republicans overwhelmingly voting towards it.
“The identical week that #HurricaneIan introduced a lot chaos and destruction to Florida, not a single Florida Republican cared sufficient to vote in favor of Hurricane aid for the folks in their very own state hit hardest by the storm,” Florida Democratic Get together Chairman Manny Diaz tweeted on Saturday.
“That could be a stage of callous indifference and political opportunism that boggles the thoughts. Fortunately, [President Joe Biden] and Florida Democrats are doing the suitable factor when it counts, and we recognize their efforts to assist Florida rebuild as soon as once more.”
In 2013, Rubio voted towards the $50 billion aid invoice meant to assist states impacted by Hurricane Sandy, which left a path of injury on the East Coast and tons of lifeless. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who was a congressman on the time, additionally voted towards a number of payments that will have supplied support to victims of Sandy.
When requested by CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday why different senators ought to assist catastrophe aid for his state when he voted towards Sandy aid, Rubio justified his resolution by saying the invoice “had been loaded up with a bunch of issues that had nothing to do with catastrophe aid.”
“What I didn’t vote for in Sandy is as a result of that they had included issues like a roof for a museum in Washington, D.C., for fisheries in Alaska,” the senator mentioned. Bash reminded Rubio that based mostly on the congressional analysis report for the invoice, the roof requested for the museum was broken by the hurricane, and the Alaskan fisheries had been impacted by a separate catastrophe.
Rubio added that he wouldn’t assist an emergency aid invoice for Hurricane Ian if it contained one thing not in regards to the straight impacted areas.
Ian was one of many strongest hurricanes to make landfall within the U.S., hitting Florida the toughest final week earlier than climbing as much as the Carolinas. The Class 4 hurricane has resulted in a rising demise toll ― escalating to no less than 47 as of Sunday morning. A whole lot of hundreds are with out houses and energy, and the destroyed infrastructure has left many individuals remoted.
Originally published at San Jose News HQ
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