Donald Trump tells different types of lies. Some of them are small lies, such as POTUS saying that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin smiled during their phone call. However, some of POTUS’ lies end up in people dying, and those are the lies he has been telling.
In an early morning tweet, Trump bragged about how much money he gave Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria destroyed the island. He said that he gave them “91 billion dollars:”
‘Puerto Rico has been given more money by Congress for Hurricane Disaster Relief, 91 Billion Dollars, than any State in the history of the U.S. As an example, Florida got $12 Billion & Texas $39 Billion for their monster hurricanes. Now the Democrats are saying NO Relief to…..’
Then, Trump continued lying, saying that giving to Puerto Rico would be in effect stealing from “Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska, and so forth:”
‘….Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and others unless much more money is given to Puerto Rico. The Dems don’t want farmers to get any help. Puerto Rico should be very happy and the Dems should stop blocking much needed Disaster Relief!’
The U.S. government allocated nearly $41 billion to Puerto Rico after the savage hurricane Maria hit and over 3,000 people died, making it the largest disaster in America. Half of that allocated amount was in a binding agreement. However, The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported that Trump sent Puerto Rico only $11.2 billion in disaster relief payments.
Vice President of Taxpayers for Common Sense Steve Ellis emailed, according to FactCheck.org:
‘It is accurate to say that $41 billion has been allocated and there will likely be billions more. But to just add up actual appropriations (most of which has not actually [been] obligated, much less cash on the ground) to some future cost estimates seems inaccurate to me.’
According to the Congressional Research Service:
‘Congress provided roughly $120 billion for Hurricane Katrina.’
According to a study published in the journal BMJ Global Health:
‘(T)he federal government responded on a larger scale and much more quickly across measures of federal money and staffing to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in Texas and Florida, compared with Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The variation in the responses was not commensurate with storm severity and need after landfall in the case of Puerto Rico compared with Texas and Florida.’
Twitter world caught fire. Check out some of our favorites below: