Democrats will NOT accept cuts in aid for the island….
Trump is against more substantial aid there….
The legislation is for ALL emergency aid across the country….
The actions could be seen as political in nature…
The island votes heavily Democratic…Most of the other aid is aimed at the South and Midwest which votes heavily Republican….
A massive emergency aid bill for victims of hurricanes, wildfires, flooding and other natural disasters was defeated in the Senate on Monday amid a fight between Democrats and President Trump over relief for Puerto Rico.
Senate Democrats opposed the $13.45 billion legislation, contending the $600 million included for Puerto Rico’s food stamp program is inadequate to meet the U.S. territory’s needs as it attempts to recover from Hurricane Maria. The Democrats are embracing a House-passed relief bill containing hundreds of millions of dollars more for Puerto Rico than the GOP version, but it, too, failed to advance Monday as Republicans opposed it.
Trump opposes sending any additional aid to Puerto Rico apart from the food stamp money, funding Republicans convinced him to accept as the price for passing the long-pending disaster bill.
The vote on the GOP bill was 44 in favor and 49 against. The House Democratic bill failed on a vote of 46-to-48. Sixty votes were needed for either piece of legislation to advance.
It’s unclear how Congress and the administration will move forward to revive the emergency package, and the impasse risks indefinitely delaying disaster funding nationwide amid partisan sniping. Support for disaster aid is often bipartisan on Capitol Hill, but the dispute over this legislation has become increasingly bitter, despite the evident need…..
It’s just clear that the President has loathing and contempt for Latinos: not only his immigration policy in general, but demanding that Mexico pay for his wall, threatening to shut down the U.S,-Mexico border, hampering aid to Puerto Rico, and cutting off all aid (harder than it sounds) to El Salvador, Honduras & Guatemala, which is only $700 million to begin with.
If the threat from the Northern Triangle is so great, it would make more sense to double, triple or quadruple it to match the aid going to Texas or Florida. Those countries can’t wave some magic wand to stop their own inhabitants from fleeing, either independently or in some northward caravan.
Similarly, if the GOP fears getting swamped (especially in the hotly-contested 2nd and 3rd largest states in Congress and the Electoral College) by Democratic-leaning Hispanics, then from a purely-political viewpoint, they’d want to slow or reduce the flow from Puerto Rico, whose residents as U.S. citizens would gain the vote the moment they touch the shores of the Lower 48.
But ever since his descent down the elevator and his inauguration speech, it’s been clear that little is rational about the President’s (fundamental and heartily-reciprocated) hostility towards any kind of Latino.
John McCain and the Bushes were far more interested and successful in appealing to an electorate that should share very conservative values with fellow Roman Catholic and Pentecostal worshippers.
I’ve always said the guy lives in an Alternate Universe…
Seriously?
He has had racist tendencies since he started in Real Estate…
With housing bias in his developments…
His help in his places was illegals who where told to shut up and be grateful for what they were given…
Same with his casino domestic help….
He has been listening to thrust flunky Stephen Miller who wants to rid the country of people of color illegal or legal…
Don’t matter…
I have no sympathy for the GOPer’s who don’t have the ball’s to challenge Trump on this and other issues that his warped view has had them follow up on…