CNN “State of the Union” host Dana Bash attempted to call out Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Sunday over disaster relief funds, but was met with immediate backlash.
Rubio said he would vote against any future or potential congressional disaster relief packages for the victims of Hurricane Ian should lawmakers “load it up with stuff that’s unrelated to the storm” as they did with Hurricane Sandy-related relief packages, as seen in a clip from CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday morning.
His comments came as Bash attempted to call him out for voting against the relief aid for Hurricane Sandy in 2012, asking “why should other senators vote for relief for [Florida]” when he refused to vote for theirs. Rubio stated that the original relief package pitched for Hurricane Sandy included “a roof for a museum in Washington D.C., for fisheries in Alaska, it had been loaded up with a bunch of things that had nothing to do with disaster relief.” (RELATED: Terrifying Timelapse Of Hurricane Ian Shows Mass Devastation)
DANA BASH: You’re asking for disaster relief money for Florida, but you voted against a relief package after Sandy
MARCO RUBIO: It included stuff like a roof for a museum in DC
BASH: I read the congressional research report and it sounds like the roof was damaged by the storm pic.twitter.com/iZ9zNcFexT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 2, 2022
Hurricane Ian made landfall in southeast Florida on Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, sending storm surges and almost Cat. 5-strength winds through towns and cities. Videos from Fort Myers, Naples, and other parts of Florida show mass devastation from the extreme weather event, which may have killed hundreds of people.