WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump during a private lunch with Republican senators on Tuesday leveled criticism at Puerto Rico's use of past disaster aid, further complicating the Senate's struggle to pass a $14 billion relief bill.
Trump used charts to illustrate his view that Puerto Rico has been given too much in disaster aid over recent years compared to states such as Texas and has failed to make good use of it, senators said.
Many Republicans are eager to move past Trump's objections to helping Puerto Rico so they can designate supplemental federal funds to address the effects of hurricanes and tornadoes in southeastern states, western wildfires and Midwest flooding.
"He alluded to some of his concerns" about Puerto Rico, said Richard Shelby, the Republican chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "He's right on that. A lot of it's been misused and abused."
Asked how that relates to the new package of disaster aid, he said: "We hope all money will be well spent, and Puerto Rico doesn't have the best record of spending money wisely."
Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri said that Trump talked about Puerto Rico aid broadly, and he did not think it would necessarily mean the president would veto the new round of assistance the Senate is working on.
The Trump comments come as Republicans and Democrats are negotiating the details of a disaster package. The Senate was to take a procedural vote to begin debate on the measure later Tuesday.
Shelby said both sides still don't have bipartisan agreement, even though the Senate will vote to take it up. His draft version of the legislation released Tuesday does not address Democratic demands for additional Puerto Rico legislation.
"We're still talking," Shelby said, noting that senators can change it later on the floor.
Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and as Congress debates further assistance, its residents are at risk of losing food aid by the end of the month. Unlike U.S. states that have guaranteed nutrition assistance funding, Puerto Rico's program is run as a limited block grant. The additional funds provided in the wake of Maria are running out.
Georgia's Republican Sens. David Perdue and Johnny Isakson proposed a $13.5 billion disaster package last month with $600 million in nutrition assistance for Puerto Rico. Democrats countered with a $14.2 billion package with more disaster relief for Puerto Rico and other territories.
On Monday, House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat, said that Senate Republicans had not responded to the offer for three weeks.
"The Senate is totally inefficient," she complained.
Lowey and other House Democrats will oppose Shelby's version of the disaster aid bill because "it does not adequately address disaster relief and recovery in Puerto Rico and the other territories," according to Evan Hollander, House Appropriations Committee spokesman.
"If the Senate passes this bill, we will insist on going to conference to ensure that we meet the needs of all Americans," Hollander said.
Shelby's draft bill contains the same $600 million for Puerto Rico, as in the Georgia senators' version, and expands the package to cover flood damage in Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.
Senate Democrats said that the foot-dragging on Puerto Rico aid is part of a pattern of negligence on the part of the Trump administration.
In a separate letter to the White House, Democratic leaders demanded answers on the coordination of past aid to the island by April 5.
"The lack of leadership and coordination, combined with delays in meeting the basic needs of the island, more than 18 months after receiving a presidential disaster declaration, has left far too many children and elderly citizens in unhealthy and unsafe conditions, families in severely damaged homes and communities without adequate infrastructure to sustain a decent quality of life," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, wrote.
