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President Trump addresses reporters, accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Left, and Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Before he attends the luncheon Republican Senate caucus Tuesday at Capitol Hill. (Melina Mara / The Washington Post)
Paul Kane
Senior Congress Correspondent and Columnist
President Trump complained Tuesday at a private luncheon with Senate Republicans regarding the amount of disaster relief designated for Puerto Rico, as lawmakers prepare for a stalemate on funds for the island that is still struggling to recover as a result of hurricane Maria, according to officials aware meeting.
The aid to Puerto Rico has long been a fixture for Trump, who asked councilors how to cut back on the island's money and said it would not support any more aid beyond the food stamp funds.
At Tuesday's luncheon, Mr. Trump announced the amount of aid going to other disaster-stricken states and compared it to the amount allocated to Puerto Rico after the 2017 hurricane, too. according to him, according to the officials who took the floor. on the condition of anonymity to describe the private event.
Trump told GOP senators that Texas – also hit by a series of hurricanes – received $ 29 billion in aid, while South Carolina received $ 1.5 billion to recover from the storms. Trump then asked why Puerto Rico was receiving $ 91 billion, according to two people familiar with his comments, stating that it was too much compared to compensation for the mainland states.
It is unclear exactly where Trump got the Puerto Rican aid figure. A congressional official said that it was difficult to quantify exactly the help that the island received to recover from Maria because of the way money was paid.
The Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development will examine whether the White House has interfered with hurricane relief funding approved for Puerto Rico as part of a broader review of the Administration of the agency's disaster grants, said a HUD inspector general's attorney at a congressional committee on Tuesday.
Congress has allocated nearly $ 20 billion in HUD relief funds in Puerto Rico, of which only $ 1.5 billion has been approved.
[Puerto Rico faces food stamp crisis as Trump privately vents about federal aid to hurricane-battered island]
The Senate was to adopt a law on disaster assistance drafted Tuesday by the Republicans. It allocates about $ 13.4 billion to states that have faced natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods and forest fires. It also contains $ 600 million worth of food vouchers for Puerto Rico.
But Democratic leaders have already found the GOP bill insufficient. House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita M. Lowey (DN.Y.) and her Senate counterpart Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), Stated that the legislation "is not responding adequately to the needs of the American citizens of Puerto Rico and other territories. "
The president's speech in Puerto Rico was only a one-hour soliloquy at the Capitol, with dozens of Republicans in the Senate, including several who described Trump particularly happy after the end of the year. Special investigator Robert S. Mueller III. .
Over lunch, Trump told the senators that Mueller's report – which Attorney General William P. Barr did not establish that there had been a criminal plot between his campaign and Moscow – had given him a note of good health, "according to participants. Senator Lindsey O. Graham (CSR) described Trump as speaking of a "new life", with the chair discussing the difficulty of the process for his family and close friends.
Trump also discussed a possible trade deal with China and urged further efforts to draft health care legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act, Senators said. Trump also made fun of the Green Green New Deal and told senators "do not kill him yet" because he said he wanted to run against him next year.
"The President is talking until he's finished speaking," said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), Describing the luncheon.
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