'Not a single Florida Republican cared enough to vote in favor of Hurricane relief': Democratic chairman criticizes GOP

Raw Story - 11h ago
By Tiffany Terrell


Twitter/screen grab© provided by RawStory

Florida Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott recently called on Senate leaders to approve more disaster funding in the wake of Florida's devastation due to Hurricane Ian. According to Axios, the lawmakers' request is important because of their previous stance on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding.

Here's a look at MSNBC reporting on the hypocrisy DeSantis and his fellow lawmakers are displaying following the devastation of hurricane Ian:

'Not a single Florida Republican cared enough to vote in favor of Hurricane relief': Democratic chairman criticizes GOP

Duration 4:23

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Hurricane Ian hit Florida as a Category 4 storm on Wednesday, leaving more than 2.5 million people without power, more than 1,100 people in need of rescue, and nearly 80 people dead, according to The New York Times.

On Friday, Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott sent a joint letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee chairs asking for funding to “provide much needed assistance to Florida.” The letter was first reported by the Tallahassee Democrat.

The GOP senators asked for federal funding to help with relief after Hurricane Ian ripped through the state ― despite neither lawmaker voting on Thursday for billions in disaster relief, some of which would go toward hurricane recovery efforts.

The bill included an additional $18.8 billion allocated to FEMA spending for Hurricane Ian and other natural disasters, HuffPost reported.

All 25 senators who refused to vote for the bill were Republicans. Scott voted against it, and Rubio didn’t vote at all. The bill passed, without the help of 25 Republican 'No' votes.

On September 24, Biden approved federal emergency aid for Florida. The federal government then "coordinated and prepositioned supplies, and more than 1,300 responders ahead of Ian's landfall to ensure resources could get where they need to be as quickly as possible," according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency press release.

In a Sunday episode of ABC "This Week," Anchor Jonathan Karl asked Rubio: "How's FEMA doing? Is Florida getting everything it needs right now from the Biden Administration?"

"Yeah. FEMA, they've all been great. As I've said, the federal response from day one has been very positive — as it has always been in the past and we're grateful for that," Rubio replied.

According to the BBC's US partner network CBS, the hurricane's death toll in Florida stood at at least 82 on Monday morning. Another four deaths have been confirmed in North Carolina.

President Joe Biden is expected to visit Florida on Wednesday.