President Trump on Monday evening criticized Democrats for voting against a GOP disaster aid bill, which Democrats said didn’t go far enough to help Puerto Rico.
Trump said in a series of tweets that Puerto Rico was allocated enough relief money while also calling the island territory a “mess” and saying its government “can’t do anything right.”
“The Democrats today killed a Bill that would have provided great relief to Farmers and yet more money to Puerto Rico despite the fact that Puerto Rico has already been scheduled to receive more hurricane relief funding than any ‘place’ in history,” Trump tweeted.
“The people of Puerto Rico are GREAT, but the politicians are incompetent or corrupt. Puerto Rico got far more money than Texas & Florida combined, yet their government can’t do anything right, the place is a mess — nothing works,” he added.
{mosads}The Senate earlier on Monday stalemated over disaster aid funding for Puerto Rico, with the GOP offering $600 million in a proposal and Democrats as well as Puerto Rico’s governor arguing it wasn’t enough.
Trump had pushed for Democrats to support the overall bill, arguing it was important to “our great farmers and rural America.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized Puerto Rico’s handling of previous disaster funds, including late last month during a lunch with GOP senators. He has repeatedly traded barbs with Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz over the topic.
He reportedly also has asked aides to cut disaster funding to the island completely despite the fact that the island is still recovering from Hurricane Maria, which made landfall in September 2017.
Updated at 11:45 p.m.