'They'll never look the same again': Senators Rubio, Scott discuss federal aid, rebuilding after Ian

Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott made the rounds on TV news shows Sunday morning to discuss Hurricane Ian, federal relief, property insurance and the federal response. 

The TV appearances follow the two senators' joint letter sent to the Senate Committee on Appropriations Friday requesting federal aid to help support communities such as Fort Myers and Sanibel, which sustained devastating damage amid the storm.

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Here's what Florida's senators had to say:

Federal Relief

On Rubio's appearance on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos", the senator was asked about his decision to vote against federal emergency relief following Hurricane Sandy in 2013. He said the decision to vote against the relief was because the bill had extraneous items that should have gone through a separate vote. 

When asked if he would vote against aid to Florida for a similar reason, Rubio said he doesn't foresee it being a problem this time around. 

"What we're going to ask for Florida is what we supported for every other state in the country that’s been affected by natural disasters, and that is emergency relief designed to be spent immediately to help the people affected now," Rubio said. 

In his appearance on CNN, Rubio said he'll work to keep any extra spending out of a federal aid package.

"I voted for every disaster relief package, especially if that's clean, and I'll continue to do so when it comes to Florida. I'll do that again," he said. "We'll make sure that that package is clean and doesn't have stuff for other people in there."

Scott echoed the sentiment in his appearances on "Meet the Press" and "Face the Nation", saying Congress needs to pull together aid, but it needs to be done wisely.

"The federal government is a major partner in helping families, helping businesses, helping governments get back to normal," he said. "But you don't want to waste money."

FEMA and Biden Administration Response

Both senators praised FEMA and the immediate federal response following the storm. Rubio and Scott both called FEMA "great partners."

Scott cited his time as Florida's governor and said he had great experiences working with FEMA for disaster relief. 

Rubio said he had "no complaints" about the Biden administration's response.

"I think in times like this, people realize that it's not about politics, it shouldn't be," Rubio said.

Property and Flood Insurance

In his appearance on "Face the Nation", Scott said he hopes people's property insurance helps cover much of the damage but said there have been problems with flood insurance in Florida. 

"Unfortunately, there's many people that don't have flood insurance, either because they didn't know they need to buy flood insurance, or because it got too expensive," Scott said. "So we've got to have insurance products, that work that people can afford. And that's what they got to try to continue to build the private flood insurance market."

He said many people don't buy flood insurance because they don't think they're at risk. He then cited flooding in Kissimmee, which isn't in a floodplain but saw a foot of flooding from Ian.

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Rebuilding

Scott was also asked whether or not destroyed communities should be rebuilt in the same spots because of the danger of extreme weather. The senator said the answer lies in strengthening building codes but balancing it still with keeping housing affordable.

"I believe these places are places where people want to live, they're beautiful places," Scott said. "So what you really have to do is you have to say, ‘I'm going to build but I'm going to do it safely.’"

On CNN, Rubio said it'll take years to rebuild the damage "to the extent possible" in Fort Myers and Sanibel. 

"They'll never look the same again," he said. "These communities have basically been wiped out."

Follow Herald-Tribune Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.