Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said during a press conference Tuesday there's "no excuse to politicize" passing a disaster aid package. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images Congress McConnell aims to pass disaster aid before Memorial Day amid fresh snags

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called on the Senate on Tuesday to pass a disaster aid package before the Memorial Day recess.

“We need to get this done,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said at a news conference. “We need to pass it out of the Senate before the Memorial Day recess. That is my hope — that Sen. [Richard] Shelby, Sen. [Patrick] Leahy, the administration and others will be able to come together to deal with this disaster like we have others. There’s no excuse to politicize this situation.”


Negotiations around disaster aid have stalled over how much money to give Puerto Rico, stemming from President Donald Trump’s comments to Senate Republicans that the island was getting too much disaster aid funding. The island was hit by two hurricanes in 2017.

Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, appeared optimistic last week that they were nearing a deal to unlock more than $17 billion in assistance to communities hit by hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and extreme flooding.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blamed Trump Tuesday for the delay in reaching a disaster deal.

“It was all on the road to being solved when President Trump came in and said ‘don’t give aid to Puerto Rico’ and our Republican friends bowed down,” he said. “Stop the politics, treat everyone equally and the bill will pass like a hot knife through butter.”

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McConnell’s comments came as 10 governors issued a letter to Trump and congressional leaders urging them to support disaster relief aid.

“Further delay of relief to the people of Georgia will result in families going bankrupt, farms will go under, and hardworking Americans will suffer,” said Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. "I pray that our nation's leaders will finally realize the dire situation good people in my state are facing. It is past time to put aside politics, stop the gridlock, and pass a bill."

Governors from Alabama, California, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, South Carolina and Wisconsin also signed the letter.

Shelby said the gridlock doesn’t bode well for the major fiscal issues to come, like raising the budget caps to avoid $126 billion in sequester cuts next fiscal year.

“My point is, if we can’t do this, what the heck can we do on something much bigger?” he said. “This is important ... but the reality is draconian cuts if we don’t work something out.”

“I hope this isn’t a preview of coming events,” Shelby said.

Vice President Mike Pence, who attended the Senate’s weekly caucus lunches, indicated that the Trump administration wants Congress to resolve the issue, Shelby said.

Shelby said he also spoke to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney earlier Tuesday, describing the conversation as more “candid” without divulging any details.

“We’re just challenged at the moment after months and months of trying to resolve this and we need to do it,” Shelby said. “We needed to have already done it.”

When asked if Mulvaney is holding up a deal, Shelby said, “I don’t know.”

“The Democrats have thrown some wrenches in the thing, too,” he said. “And they would say we have … If you’re looking for blame, there’s a lot of blame for not having something going around.”

“We’ve got to get beyond that and say how do we solve this, how do we work this out,” Shelby said. “We need the administration, we need the Senate and the House to put politics above this as much as you can in Washington, D.C.”

Leahy blamed Trump for foiling a deal.

“It’s complicated because every time we’ve reached an agreement, the White House gives us three different answers,” Leahy said. “‘Yes, we're for it. No, we’re against it; we got another problem.’”

Top senators felt they were closing in on a deal last week, tweaking a GOP offer that would provide Puerto Rico with $300 million in rebuilding assistance through grants the Department of Housing and Urban Development provides.

The offer also would have imposed some financial guardrails on Puerto Rico, fulfilling a request from the White House.



Catherine Boudreau contributed to this report.