Washington DC, June 4: The United States has on Monday passed a disaster relief aid worth USD 9.1 billion aimed at providing financial assistance to regions struck by wildfire, flooding, hurricanes, and earthquakes.
The US House of Representatives voted 354 to 58 in favour of the bill that would provide around USD 900 million for America’s unincorporated territory Puerto Rico, which has been struck by strongest Hurrican Maria and is still recovering since 2017, as pe Sputnik news reports.
Before concluding the voting, the House appropriations committee Chair Nita Lowey has stated, “When disasters strike, we shouldn’t let a zip code dictate our response. And Americans across the country have been waiting far too long for the relief and recovery assistance they deserve.”
The legislation will be directed to the White House as it needs to get approved by President Donald Trump’s signature. Trump has backed the bill in the past and was fast to hail the bill in the House, according to ANI news reports.
BREAKING: US House passes $19.1B disaster relief bill, despite the bill’s approval being delayed 3 times over the past 2 weeks by 3 different Republican representatives: Reps. John Rose, of Tennessee; Thomas Massie, of Kentucky; Chip Roy, of Texas. https://t.co/uQgpm6ghPq
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 3, 2019
On his official Twitter handle, the US president wrote: “House just passed the 19.1 billion dollar disaster aid bill. Great, now we will get it done in the Senate! Farmers, Puerto Rico and all will be very happy.”
The bill was postponed due to several weeks of an argument between Republicans and Democrats over how much financial aid is needed to allocate to Puerto Rico.
The US president’s opposition to directing more disaster relief aid to Puerto Rico and his disagreements with their governor has been both public.