In the closed-door lunch, Mr. Pence told senators that Mr. Trump was frustrated by the amount of money Puerto Rico has received since hurricanes devastated the island in 2017. Mr. Trump is scheduled to host a rally on Wednesday in Panama City Beach, Fla., an area devastated last year by Hurricane Michael. In that conversation, Mr. Trump said he was flexible but also emphasized his commitment to staying firm on his objections to limiting new funding to Puerto Rico, the person said. Democrats, meanwhile, have continued to criticize the administration for what they say is a blatant reluctance to help the people of Puerto Rico, who do not have voting representation in Congress. “But that’s not a reason to hold back the money.”Of the push to combine the two funding requests, he told reporters, Mr. Trump “complicated up the disaster bill once, now maybe he’s doing it twice, that what it seems to be.”

Source: New York Times May 08, 2019 02:26 UTC