Oposición de legisladores republicanos a la retención de ayuda federal
Republican lawmakers from states that have been ravaged by natural disasters oppose withholding or conditioning federal assistance to California residents impacted by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. “I would ask those folks to put themselves in the same position as people of western North Carolina,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said of some conservatives who have suggested putting strings on federal aid to California. “You got to be consistent on disaster supplement, period. I’m unequivocal ― you fix the problems of those folks out there; we can talk about the problems we’ve created here, here,” he added.
Consecuencias de desastres en Carolina del Norte
Some Western North Carolina communities were wiped off the map last September after hurricanes Helene and Milton caused catastrophic flooding, causing tens of billions of dollars in damages and leaving more than 200 people dead across several other states. Last month, congressional leaders provided $100 billion for relief for those and other disasters, with no strings attached. But now that a blue state has suffered a natural disaster, some Republicans have suggested withholding aid until California makes policy changes to its forest and water management, or its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Comentarios sobre la ayuda por desastres
“There can’t be a blank check on this,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face The Nation, blaming “the policies of the liberal administration out there.” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also told reporters on Monday that there’s some discussion of tying disaster aid to raising the debt limit. Republicans want to raise the debt limit in part to finance an extension of the 2017 GOP tax cuts. “You can’t go out and get the kind of money that’s necessary in this unless you increase the debt limit,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said Monday.
Propuesta de ayuda sin condiciones
But Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a former governor of hurricane-prone Florida, said that Congress should act to provide relief to California wildfire victims without attaching conditions. “I think we ought to do aid the way we do everybody else,” Scott told HuffPost. “There are existing requirements. I mean, the money’s just not free…FEMA has rules,” he added of the government disaster relief agency. Democrats, meanwhile, noted that disaster-prone red states such as Florida could face a similar push to condition aid in the future under a Democratic-controlled Congress.
Reacciones de senadores sobre condiciones de la ayuda
“There are a lot of people, for example, in Florida, running insurance businesses that are not going to be happy about all those strings and odd policies that are being talked about,” Wyden told reporters on Monday. Meanwhile, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a senior appropriator who was instrumental in getting federal disaster aid to Hawaii after last year’s fires in Maui devastated the island, laughed off the threat of conditioning relief.
“It’s never going to happen,” Schatz said. I think the moment Texas or Florida or Mississippi experiences a disaster, that idea will vanish.”
Fuente y créditos: www.huffpost.com
Cats: Politics
