Infighting delays disaster aid for Puerto Rico

Trump’s opposition has sparked a partisan standoff

Washington — Six months after hurricanes devastated the Southeast, infighting among Washington’s tribes has shelved a widely backed disaster aid package that’s desperately being sought by President Donald Trump’s allies in Florida and Georgia.

Trump’s opposition to aid to Puerto Rico — slammed by back-to-back hurricanes in 2017 — has sparked a standoff with Democrats demanding more aid for the island U.S. territory. Trump is feuding with the island’s Democratic officials and railed against aid to Puerto Rico at a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans last month.

Senate Republicans have stuck with the president so far, refusing to add more funding to help Puerto Rico rebuild its water systems or help its impoverished government with more generous disaster aid terms. Democrats in turn filibustered a $14 billion aid package over the issue last week, and the measure has languished since.

“Typically when these kinds of things happen, we figure out how to help as much as possible and do it on an overwhelming bipartisan basis, and that’s what needs to be done now,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters on Thursday. “I think we’ll get there but it’s been a little too political in my opinion.”

Now, both House and Senate are heading off for a two-week Easter recess, leaving struggling cotton farmers in the South in limbo at a crucial time for spring planting and failing to ease food stamp cuts in Puerto Rico.

“It’s an absolute travesty that this chamber is recessing without a compromise on much-needed funding for disaster relief,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “From the start, Democrats have supported an all-of-the-above approach, help every part of America that’s struggling from natural disasters. We need to help everyone hurt last year, everyone hurt this year, everyone hurt in Puerto Rico, everyone hurt in the middle West, everyone hurt in Florida.”

The cross-party finger pointing has been predictable, but Republicans are also upset with the White House.

“Never before have we seen American communities that were wrecked with catastrophes neglected like this,” said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., usually a Trump loyalist, in a floor speech this week.

Frustration is also bubbling in the Senate, where Trump allies such as David Perdue of Georgia and Rick Scott of Florida — a state that’s crucial to Trump’s re-election — are pressuring the president to deal.