Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) have called on President Joe Biden (D) to approve the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s request to sign off on a pre-landfall emergency declaration immediately.
This would allow the Seminole Tribe to have access to federal resources for emergency response and recovery preparations on tribal lands, including the Big Cypress Reservation, the Brighton Reservation, the Hollywood Reservation, the Immokalee Reservation, and the Tampa Reservation, among others.
Sens. Rubio and Scott wrote that the Seminole Tribe receiving the proper resources is “imperative” to the community.
“Hurricane Milton is expected to bring damaging wind, rain, and flooding to Florida, including Seminole Tribal lands,” said Rubio and Scott. “Ensuring the Tribe has access to the federal resources needed for emergency response is imperative to protecting members of the tribe, their communities and property. As such, we urge you to promptly approve the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s request for a pre-landfall emergency declaration.”
The Florida senators recently called on President Biden to provide a pre-landfall declaration for the Sunshine State so that residents could receive Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) aid to prepare for the storm.
They wrote to the president:
“Although our state is familiar with the dangers posed by hurricanes, this major hurricane approaches toward Florida’s Gulf coast that recently endured severe impacts from major Hurricane Helene, rendering them particularly vulnerable to catastrophic effects from this approaching storm,” said the Senators. “Ensuring that the state has access to the federal resources it needs is imperative to protecting Floridians, property, and our communities.”
However, this request from Sens. Rubio and Scott comes at a time in which the Biden-Harris administration has been called out for misusing FEMA’s resources on behalf of illegal immigrants instead of American citizens.
For instance, after Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently announced that FEMA does not have the necessary funds to provide aid throughout hurricane season, AG Moody criticized the Biden-Harris administration, going as far as to accuse them of “laundering” taxpayer money for migrants as hundreds of millions of FEMA dollars have been used for migrant programs.
