A dispute over hurricane relief aid for Puerto Rico helped torpedo a disaster bill in the U.S. Senate on Monday, as Democrats charged the plan didn't have enough assistance for the island, while Republicans were unable to muster even a simple majority for $13.5 billion in emergency aid backed by President Donald Trump for areas hit by hurricanes and wildfires in 2018, and by floods this year.
Three Republican Senators - Mike Braun of Indiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Mike Enzi of Wyoming - joined with all but one Democrat in voting against the aid package, which needed 60 votes to advance to final action.
"What we see here is pure partisan politics," said Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), as he accused Democrats of voting against the disaster relief bill simply to find a way to attack President Trump.
"I’ve never been more frustrated in the U.S. Senate than I am now," Perdue tweeted.
Democrats said the President was to blame, citing White House resistance to plans to funnel more aid to the island, which has struggled to recover from Hurricane Maria in 2017.
"He wants to pick winner and losers and decide who gets assistance in the wake of disasters," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT).
Even with the support of President Trump, the GOP relief bill garnered only 44 votes, as both parties pointed the finger of blame at each other over the Senate disaster funding impasse.
The only Democrat to vote in favor of acting on the plan was Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), whose home state was hit recently by damaging tornadoes.
Back in January, the House approved over $14 billion in disaster relief, but the Senate di not act immediately on the matter, in part because of the President's opposition to substantial new relief money for Puerto Rico.
"I've taken better care of Puerto Rico than any man ever," Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House last Thursday.
"I think the people of Puerto Rico understand it. But you do have a mayor of San Juan that, frankly, doesn’t know what she's doing," the President added, as Mr. Trump has argued Puerto Rico was misusing government relief money.
"The people of Puerto Rico are wonderful but the inept politicians are trying to use the massive and ridiculously high amounts of hurricane/disaster funding to pay off other obligations," the President tweeted last October.
It was not immediately apparent how the two parties would solve the dispute.
A second Senate vote on Monday evening to force action on a House-passed disaster aid bill also was blocked, on a procedural vote of 46-48.
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