Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida has said he plans to call for a vote next week to provide federal relief for victims of this week’s Hurricane Idalia.
Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth: NOPE!
Not unless, she says, that relief is tied to giving more American dollars for Ukraine.
While Scott’s effort to replenish the Disaster Relief Fund is intended to help hurricane victims who are both his constituents and people in neighboring states, according to Politico, Duckworth said on Friday she will object unless that spending is coupled with more Ukraine spending.
Florida Politics reported Friday, “After Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, Scott said he intends to bring the Federal Disaster Responsibility Act to the Senate floor and seek unanimous consent to pass the bill.”
“The legislation would provide $12.5 billion for the disaster fund, the Hurricane Tax Relief Act and block grant funding. That’s roughly what the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) wants to replenish the fund through the year, according to a supplemental funding request from President Joe Biden’sadministration.”
Last month, the Biden administration requested billions more for Ukraine from Congress. Scott’s bill would focus exclusively on domestic disaster recovery.
Scott believes Ukraine spending should be separate from disaster relief in his state and region.
“Unfortunately, while I’ve spent the months leading up to this storm fighting to make sure the federal government shows up, President Biden and politicians in Washington have been playing games with FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and insisting that this critical domestic aid be tied to foreign aid for Ukraine,” Scott said in a statement.
According to the Miami Herald on Friday, “the administration’s request to Congress proposed earlier this month already ties supplemental disaster relief funding with more assistance for Ukraine… Bundling various funding proposals into one supplemental package is not uncommon for administrations to request or for Congress to pass.”
Scott continued, “We’ve had enough with Washington playing politics and demand that Congress does what’s right for American families, starting with ensuring our federal government has all the resources it needs to show up after disasters, now and in the future.”
When the White House was asked this week why further Ukraine aid might be coupled with Hurricane Idalia relief, Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre seemed to skirt the question, saying she didn’t want to “get into hypotheticals.”
Scott expressed his outrage over Duckworth’s stance and tying the money together in general on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.
Hurricane Idalia briefly became a Category 4 storm before reaching Florida on Wednesday.
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