- Marco Rubio on Sunday said he would oppose the Hurricane Ian relief bill if it included unrelated spending projects.
- Rubio said the additional spending would discourage other lawmakers from voting for disaster relief.
- Restoration work continues, with more than 1,100 people rescued as of Saturday morning.
Sen. Marco Rubio said on Sunday that he would vote against a federal relief bill to help Florida recover from Hurricane Ian if it included an unrelated spending project.
“Of course. I’m against it with pork in it. That’s the key,” Rubio said in CNN’s “State of the Union” address. “It shouldn’t be put there because it would compromise the ability to come back and do this in the future.”
Rubio said the extra spending would discourage other lawmakers from voting.
“We can do it, it is possible to do it without loading these other things. It’s a way to get the project done,” Rubio said.
Biden announced Thursday that he is authorizing disaster relief efforts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Hurricane Ian first made landfall in Cuba before moving to Florida and then South Carolina, weakening into a tropical depression as it moved inland.
While the full extent of Hurricane Ian’s damage is still being assessed, it is projected to cost between $28 billion and $47 billion, making it the deadliest hurricane in Florida since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. I was.
About 1 million customers in Florida, 72,000 in South Carolina, and 25,000 in North Carolina remained without power as of Saturday night.
Restoration work continues, with more than 1,100 people rescued as of Saturday morning. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said Saturday that about 35 deaths were reported in his one county in Florida. Officials have attributed additional deaths to Ian, but no official statewide count has been released as the investigation continues.
“I think disaster relief is something that shouldn’t be messed with,” Rubio said. “We have the ability in this country to vote for disaster relief in parliament. It allows people to load things unrelated to the storm without using it as a mechanism.”