by - Hurricane Ian devastated Florida last week as Republican senators voted against relief.
- Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Rick Scott also wrote a letter asking for federal aid for hurricane damage.
- Florida locals say they are running out of resources as they try to recover from the storm.
Sen. Marco Rubio this week demonstrated a now-familiar Republican routine about taking federal money for hurricane relief.
Hurricane Ian hit Florida as a Category 4 storm on Wednesday, leaving more than 2.5 million people without power, more than 1,100 people in need of rescue and nearly 80 people dead, according to the New York Times.
But Florida senators Rubio and Rick Scott did not vote for a spending bill Thursday that included an additional $18.8 billion allocated to FEMA spending for Hurricane Ian and other natural disasters, HuffPost reported. The bill passed, without the help of 25 Republican “no” votes.
CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday reported how Rubio voted against Hurricane Sandy relief: “Why should other senators vote for relief for your state when you didn’t vote for a package for theirs?”
“It was loaded with a bunch of stuff that had nothing to do with disaster relief,” Rubio replied. “I would never say that we should use a disaster relief package for Florida as a way to pay for all kinds of other things that people around the country want.”
The New York Times dismissed the idea that relief fell on non-Sandy-related roads in 2017 after Republican lawmakers defended their votes against the bill.
Rubio explained his position on Hurricane Ian relief to Bass: “I’m going to fight against it having pork in it. That’s the key,” he said.
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 2, 2022
However, Rubio and Scott sent a joint letter to the appropriations committee asking for support for hurricane relief on Friday.
“A strong and timely federal response, including through supplemental programs and funding, will be required to ensure adequate resources are provided to rebuild vital infrastructure and public services and to help our fellow Floridians rebuild their lives.” , the duo wrote.
On September 24, Biden approved federal emergency aid for Florida. The federal government then “coordinated and mobilized supplies and more than 1,300 responders ahead of Ian’s landfall to ensure resources could get to where they needed to be as quickly as possible,” according to a press release from the Federal Management Agency. Emergency.
On a Sunday episode of ABC’s “This Week,” host Jonathan Karl asked Rubio, “How’s FEMA doing? Is Florida getting everything it needs right now from the Biden administration?”
“Yes. FEMA, they’ve all been great. As I’ve said, the federal response from day one has been very positive — as it always has been in the past, and we’re grateful for that,” Rubio responded.
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 2, 2022
Meanwhile, Florida residents have expressed frustration over the hurricane and the government’s response as they say resources are being dwindled.
Rubio did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
