[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 77 (Thursday, May 9, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S2753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Puerto Rico

  Madam President, on Puerto Rico, last night President Trump held his 
first Florida rally of the year in Panama City, in the heart of the 
Florida Panhandle, which was so awfully devastated by Hurricane Michael 
last year. President Trump's speech contained all the usual demagoguery 
and bloviating, but one thing in particular stuck in his craw. The 
President used his rally in Florida to denigrate once again the island 
of Puerto Rico, to repeat falsehoods about how much aid it has 
received, and to pit one American against another, which seems to be 
his MO.
  Again, the President said that Puerto Rico has gotten $91 billion of 
disaster aid--flat-out false. They received a hair over $11 billion.
  Mr. President, ask your budget people how many dollars Puerto Rico 
has received, and they will not tell you the $91 billion falsehood you 
have repeated over and over.
  Again, I saw the President pit Americans against each other, going so 
far as to hold up a flimsy graphic to get Floridians in his audience to 
turn against Americans in Puerto Rico. At a time when we need unity, at 
a time when we should be together, with all the threats challenging 
us--domestic and foreign and all the other types of challenges--all the 
President can do is to appeal to people's worst instincts and divide 
us. We are humans. We are made by God. We have good and bad in each of 
us. The President should be appealing to the good side, not the bad 
side, but all he does is the bad side. It is a shame.
  Of course, he said that Puerto Ricans should be grateful for whatever 
disaster aid they have received, as a pretext for not doing more. Does 
he say that to the people of Florida: You shouldn't get any more aid 
because you received some already and you should be grateful. Of course 
not, it is a double standard. President Trump ought to be ashamed of 
himself for condescending to and publicly mocking a community that is 
still suffering. These are men, women, and children. They still don't 
have their homes, their hospitals, their schools. They can't go on with 
life, and he is mocking them? What did they do wrong? They are American 
citizens. I sometimes cannot believe the depth of cruelty that the 
President uses to treat fellow American citizens this way.
  The fact remains, we can end the impasse over disaster aid at a 
moment's notice. To the people of Florida: All you have to do is tell 
your Senators to vote for the full aid package, including aid to Puerto 
Rico, and you will get all the aid you need, all the aid that Congress 
has allocated. Just do that.
  But Republican Senators, after Donald Trump went in and said no more 
aid to Puerto Rico, blindly bowed in obeisance. The House will never 
pass a bill that doesn't treat Puerto Rico as fairly as it treats the 
other States of the Union.
  Let's decide now that we are going to help every corner of America 
that is hit by disaster, because that is what Americans have always 
done.