Trump, who has sparred with Puerto Rican officials over hurricane relief and shown sensitivity to criticism of his administration’s efforts in the commonwealth, claimed Tuesday that the island got $91 billion in relief, “more money than has ever been gotten for a hurricane before.” The U.S. has set aside only $41 billion for recovery so far, and recovery costs from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 topped $120 billion, according to The Washington Post.
In a series of tweets, Trump also argued that the island’s politicians spend money “foolishly and corruptly” and “take” from the United States. He claimed the U.S. “cannot continue to “hurt our Farmers and States with these massive payments” to Puerto Rico. The island is part of the United States and its residents are U.S. citizens.
“The best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico is President Donald J. Trump,” the president said in a tweet. Only 15 percent of Puerto Ricans gave Trump “excellent/very good/good” marks for his hurricane response, versus 80 percent who rated it “fair/poor,” according to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll taken in July and August 2018.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has accused Trump of putting the needs of states over relief for the dire situation in Puerto Rico. Speaking on the Senate floor Monday, he said that “our fellow Americans deserve the resources needed to rebuild and recover,” which Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have “refused to provide.”
McConnell, for his part, called the GOP-backed measure “the only bill on the table with any provision for Midwest flooding” and the only proposal that could get Trump’s support “in time to deliver urgent relief on the nutrition assistance in Puerto Rico.”
The political jostling comes as candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination have increasingly made the island a priority. Candidates such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., made stops there earlier this year, though they did not take firm stances on whether Puerto Rico should gain statehood, according to Politico. Politicians such as Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello have pushed to make the island a state.
While Puerto Rico does not vote in the presidential election, it awards delegates in the presidential primary process. Still, presidential swing states that Trump won in 2016 — Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas — saw the first-, third- and fourth-largest population inflows from Puerto Rico from 2005 to 2016, according to the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
Five of the senators running for the Democratic nomination — Warren, Sanders, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — voted for the House-passed plan which would have included the $700 billion in aid. All of them voted against the GOP proposal without the additional relief. Another candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, did not vote on either proposal.
Expect Senate Democrats to face sustained criticism from Republicans over opposing the GOP-backed relief bill. It would provide aid for flood damage in the early nominating state of Iowa, along with relief for hurricane damage in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia — all states that could host competitive presidential and Senate contests next year.
Winning those states could go a long way toward helping Trump hold the White House and Senate Republicans keep their majority. They currently hold a 53-47 edge in the chamber.
But the GOP has to defend 22 seats next year, versus 12 for Democrats.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report
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