Top Dems demand answers on weak P.R. hurricane aid

Democrats served notice on the Trump administration Tuesday that they are going to try to force an accounting for the slow, inadequate response to Hurricane Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico in 2017.

Nearly 3,000 people died after the catastrophic storm swept across the U.S. territory, prompting a response from the federal government that was considerably weaker than its mobilization after other hurricanes that year that struck Florida and Texas, according a report from University of Michigan researchers.

The response from Congress has also been considerably weaker than its response to examining the failures of the federal response to Hurricane

Katrina, which claimed the lives of 1,800 people in 2005.

After Katrina, the GOPcontrolled Congress held more than 30 hearings in the House and Senate, created a select committee to probe the administration of then-President George W. Bush, and issued two lengthy reports with scathing conclusions and recommendations.

For Maria, there were a smattering of hearings, and the Trump administration has refused to provide significant information, Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said in a letter to the Trump administration Tuesday.

“It is unacceptable for the White House to completely ignore valid requests from this committee, particularly when they are based on strong, clear and bipartisan precedents, and especially when they relate to the death of thousands of American citizens,” Cummings wrote on a letter with Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Ohio).

“Your actions stand in stark contrast to the Bush administration, which produced tens of thousands of documents in response to a nearly identical request. The only difference is that far more people died in Puerto Rico,” they wrote.

Cummings had asked the White House when Democrats were still in the minority last year for the same information about Maria that Republicans had gotten from the Bush administration about Katrina.

He has since gotten nothing.

The Democrats said they are probing Trump’s “apparent” lack of engagement and command, the uncoordinated response, the inability to plan for food and fuel distribution ahead of time, “and the reasons for the president’s inaccurate statements regarding the crisis.”

Trump has repeatedly claimed only a handful of people died in Puerto Rico, and rated his response a 10 after visiting and infamously tossing paper towels to people (photo).

He has since insisted Puerto Rico has gotten much more help than either Texas or Florida, which were hit by Irma and Harvey in 2017. However, independent analyses more than a year after the storms found aid and personnel was much slower flowing to Puerto Rico. For instance, victims of Harvey had gotten $13 billion in Federal Emergency Management Agency aid alone within 180 days. Puerto Rico is just nearing that number now.

The White House did not return a request for comment.

Committee Republicans were critical of Cummings’ “attacking” the president.

“Cummings is at it again, manufacturing a controversy to support his obsession with attacking the president for political gain,” the Oversight Committee Republicans said in a statement.

“Nothing from the administration will satisfy Chairman Cummings unless it furthers Democrats’ impeachment efforts,” the statement said.