CNN’s Bash Confronts Rubio: Why Should the Senate Help Florida After Hurricane Ian When You Voted Against Sandy Relief?

CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Senator Marco Rucio (R) to explain why he’s seeking federal help after Hurricane Ian when he opposed relief bills in the past for natural disasters in other states.

Rubio was on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday to discuss Florida’s efforts to recover from the storm. The senator for the assistance the state has already received from the Biden administration — but is asking the Senate Appropriations Committee for disaster relief. In light of his request, Bash brought up the senator’s record and noted that he opposed a $50 billion relief package in 2012 when the northeastern U.S. was devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

“I know you supported a smaller version,” Bash said, “But why should other senators vote for relief for your state when you didn’t vote for a package to help theirs?”

“I’ve always voted for hurricane and disaster relief,” Rubio answered, insisting that he opposed the first version of the bill because it of the “pork” spending he saw in the package.

“What I didn’t vote for in Sandy is because they included a roof for a museum in Washington, D.C., for fisheries in Alaska. It had been loaded up with things that had nothing to do with disaster relief,” Rubio said. “I voted for every disaster relief package, especially that’s clean, and I’ll continue to do so. When it comes to Florida, we’ll do that again and make sure the package is clean and doesn’t have stuff for other people in there.”

Rubio was likely referring to the Smithsonian’s museums, which were allocated $2 million in Sandy funding propositions in order to address roof damage from the storm. Bash brought that up, and she said that after reading the congressional research report over, the Alaska funding was meant to address damages from a separate disaster.

“Are you telling me that if Hurricane Ian relief contains anything that smells like pork, you’ll vote no?” Bash asked.

“Sure. I’ll fight against it having pork in it,” Rubio said. He continued by warning that having pork in disaster relief funding undermines the purpose by making it harder for Congress to approve such funding in the future.

Watch above via CNN.