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Lawmakers are condemning President Donald Trump for politicizing disaster aid after he denied Democratic-led Rhode Island’s request for blizzard recovery assistance last week while approving millions in funds for Republican-leaning states.

In a series of Truth Social posts on June 30, Trump announced more than $846 million in disaster aid to states that voted for him in the 2024 presidential election. Such aid — granted in response to several extreme weather-related disasters, including wildfires, severe storms, and flooding — is generally approved by presidents and administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on a nonpartisan basis.

According to an Urban Institute analysis examining disaster aid approvals since Trump began his second term in office, over 84 percent of requests from states that voted for him in the 2024 election have received approvals, while only 41 percent of requests from states that voted for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris have been approved. Red states also appear to receive approvals twice as fast as blue states do, the analysis found.

This is not the first time that Trump has appeared to refuse aid to states for partisan reasons. Last year, a group of Democratic-led states sued the administration for manipulating rules to withhold FEMA funds from them. And during his first term in office, Trump reportedly almost refused to grant aid to address California wildfires because the state generally elects Democrats. Only after he was told that the state has millions of Republican voters did he agree to provide funds, a former aide to the president revealed last year.

The administration denies that partisanship plays a role in determining which states are granted FEMA aid.

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“President Trump provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him. … There is no politicization to the President’s decisions on disaster relief,” a White House........

© Truthout