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| Donald Trump says Puerto Rico's disaster has 'thrown our budget a little out of whack' | Donald Trump says Puerto Rico's disaster has 'thrown our budget a little out of whack' |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Donald Trump - on a visit to meet the millions of Americans whose lives have been turned upside down in Puerto Rico - has said responding to the island’s disaster has “thrown our budget a little of whack”. | Donald Trump - on a visit to meet the millions of Americans whose lives have been turned upside down in Puerto Rico - has said responding to the island’s disaster has “thrown our budget a little of whack”. |
| He also said the island should be “very proud” that only 16 people had lost their lives to the “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds” who were killed by Hurricane Katrina, that struck Louisiana in 2005. | |
| As Mr Trump arrived in the American territory almost two weeks after Hurricane Maria tore into the island, only a tiny percentage of the three-and-a-half million people who live on the island, have electricity. Around half of residents do not have access to fresh drinking water and only a third can make use of their mobile phones. | |
| Ahead of his visit, Mr Trump had been criticised by many for what was perceived as the slow federal response to the disaster, especially when compared to how the government helped Florida and Texas after they were respectively struck by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. | |
| Meeting with federal and local officials, Mr Trump introduced White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, accompanying him on the trip. | |
| “I hate to tell you Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack, because we have spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico, and that’s fine” said Mr Trump. | |
| “We’ve saved a lot of lives. Every death is a horror. If you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina and you look at the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people who died, and you look here at a storm that was totally overpowering, and you look at your death count - 16 certified - then you can be very proud.” | |
| He added: “You can be very proud of how your people and our people worked together.” | |
| More follows..... |