Just days after Hurricane Ian decimated Florida, the killings continued. at least 88 people leveling floodingNearly all of the Florida Republicans in Congress voted against the bill that provided billions in funding for disaster aid. Officials could have used this money to start recovery from the storm.
Congress passed last week a stopgap funding bill. It contained $18.8 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to account for. climate crisis-fueled, worsening natural disastersFlorida officials could use this to speed up Ian’s recovery. according to the Daily Beast. The bill provided FEMA with a year’s worth of disaster funds, rather than just the next few months’ worth.
Despite opposition from Republicans and Floridians in Congress, the bill was passed. All 16The bill was defeated by the Republican House members from the state, including the two Republicans who represent constituents. in Lee County, where much of the hurricane’s destruction was felt. All in all, 201 Republicans voted against keeping the government funded through December while only 10 voted in favor.
Floridian Republicans in the Senate weren’t on board with the bill either. Sen. Rick Scott voted “no” on the bill, while Sen. Marco Rubio wasn’t present for the vote on Thursday. Rubio said in interviews later that he didn’t vote for the bill because it contained “a bunch of things” unrelated to disaster relief, like additional fundingUkraine, low-income heating assistance and relief for Jackson, Mississippi recovering fromA historic water crisis.
Despite this, however the senators sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee last week asking for a “robust and timely federal response” to the hurricane. “Hurricane Ian will be remembered and studied as one of the most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States,” they wrote.
The government funding bill passed 72 votes to 23 in Senate and 230 votes to 201 in House. a government shutdownThat would have been at the end of the week.
Even if the FEMA relief funds hadn’t been included in the bill, a government shutdown could have hampered FEMA’s ability to respond to the disaster. In the past, when the government has shut down due to lawmakers’ failure to pass a funding bill, FEMA has historically furloughedThere are thousands of employees.
Democrats criticized Florida Republicans for refusing funding the project, pointing out their hypocrisyIn asking for emergency funding, but still voting against the bill or abstaining.
“The same week that Hurricane Ian brought so much chaos and destruction to Florida, not a single Florida [U.S. House] Republican cared enough to vote in favor of Hurricane relief for the people in their own state hit hardest by the storm,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz, per the Tallahassee Democrat. “That is a level of callous indifference and political opportunism that boggles the mind.”
Rep. Val Demings (a Democrat) is challenging Rubio for the 2022 election. wrote on Twitter on Sunday, “In the United States Senate, I’ll never put partisan politics over delivering disaster relief for Floridians.”
In the past decade, congressional Republicans have been criticized for voting against disaster relief following a hurricane. For instance, 2012 was a disaster year. dozens of Republicans voted against relief for Hurricane Sandy, including Florida’s far right Ron DeSantis, then a representative in the House.
A large part of the Republican caucus appears to support disaster relief funding. As the Daily BeastNotes that the Republican Study Committee is the largest group of internal GOP conference participants. proposes slashingFederal disaster relief funding in its most recent annual budget proposal.
