Trump stops in Puerto Rico
President Trump visits a neighborhood damaged by Hurricane Maria in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, with FEMA Administrator Brock Long (second from right) and Lt. Gen. Jeff Buchanan on Tuesday. Trump said that Puerto Ricans should be proud of their relatively low death toll but said the recovery effort is straining the U.S. budget.
President Trump on Tuesday told Puerto Rican officials they should feel “very proud” they haven’t lost hundreds of lives like in “a real catastrophe like Katrina,” while adding that the devastated island territory has thrown the nation’s budget “a little out of whack.”
Trump’s remarks came as he touched down in San Juan for his first visit to Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria ravaged the island two weeks ago. He has faced criticism for the slow federal response to the disaster, although he praised himself earlier in the day for his administration’s “great job” and “A-plus” response.
“Every death is a horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous — hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here, with really a storm that was just totally overpowering, nobody’s ever seen anything like this,” Trump said, before asking a local official how many people had died in storm. “What is your death count as of this moment? Seventeen? Sixteen people certified, 16 people versus in the thousands.”
Trump then praised officials in the room over the death toll.
“You can be very proud of all of your people, all of our people working together,” he said.
After Trump left, Gov. Ricardo A. Rossello announced that the official death toll had more than doubled, to 34.
The president seemed to fault the small island for imperiling the United States’ budget by requiring hurricane relief funds, saying, “I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., rebuffed Trump’s comments about how the Puerto Rican hurricane response is affecting the federal budget, noting that the president made no such comments in Texas or Florida following hurricanes there.
“Mr. President, enough,” said Schumer, whose state has the largest population of Puerto Ricans on the U.S. mainland. “Stop blaming Puerto Rico for the storm that devastated their shores. Roll up your sleeves and get the response on track.”
Trump’s response to Maria offers a sharp contrast with his actions in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which ravaged Southeast Texas. Trump visited Texas twice in the week afterward.