Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Thursday voted against a stopgap funding bill that included $2 billion in disaster relief as his home state is battered by Hurricane Ian.
The bill passed by a 72-25 bipartisan vote and is now headed to the House. Congress must get a funding bill to President Biden’s desk by Friday to keep the government funded through mid-December.
All 25 “no” votes were from Republicans, but Scott’s is noteworthy, given that Florida is seeing extensive damage from the storm.
Florida’s other senator, Republican Marco Rubio, was counted as absent for the vote. He’s in Florida assessing damage from the hurricane.
A day before the vote, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged his Republican colleagues to back the measure.
“The bipartisan government funding bill the Senate is on track to pass this week will ensure the federal Disaster Relief Fund is fully resourced at this critical moment,” McConnell said Wednesday.
In a statement, Scott spokesman McKinley Lewis said the senator had, before Hurricane Ian developed, “made clear that he would not support a CR that failed to fund the federal government until the new Congress begins in 2023.”
Scott, the spokesman said, has spent this week “receiving briefings from and speaking to federal officials from the [National Weather Service] and FEMA, as well as mayors, sheriffs, and state and local officials” about the hurricane.
Immediately after the vote, Scott’s office sent an email in which the senator said he is “fighting to quickly deploy every federal resource needed to Florida.”
The bill passed by a 72-25 bipartisan vote and is now headed to the House. Congress must get a funding bill to President Biden’s desk by Friday to keep the government funded through mid-December.
All 25 “no” votes were from Republicans, but Scott’s is noteworthy, given that Florida is seeing extensive damage from the storm.
Florida’s other senator, Republican Marco Rubio, was counted as absent for the vote. He’s in Florida assessing damage from the hurricane.
A day before the vote, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged his Republican colleagues to back the measure.
“The bipartisan government funding bill the Senate is on track to pass this week will ensure the federal Disaster Relief Fund is fully resourced at this critical moment,” McConnell said Wednesday.
In a statement, Scott spokesman McKinley Lewis said the senator had, before Hurricane Ian developed, “made clear that he would not support a CR that failed to fund the federal government until the new Congress begins in 2023.”
Scott, the spokesman said, has spent this week “receiving briefings from and speaking to federal officials from the [National Weather Service] and FEMA, as well as mayors, sheriffs, and state and local officials” about the hurricane.
Immediately after the vote, Scott’s office sent an email in which the senator said he is “fighting to quickly deploy every federal resource needed to Florida.”
