The members of the Senate condemns the Trump administration’s response to the Myanmar earthquake

Democratic Senators sent a message to the Trump administration on Wednesday and criticized what they called The response of trivial American aid To the earthquake in Myanmar, where China and Russia sent rescue and relief teams.

Six Senate members said In the letter The United States seemed to fail in the first test of its ability to respond to a humanitarian crisis in the wake of the Trump administration Radical discounts for external assistance The United States Agency for International Development, the Main Relief Agency.

“We are very concerned that the administration’s response fails to achieve both our moral and strategic goals – send a signal to countries around the world that our opponents are more reliable and worthy of trust than the United States.”

The New York Times obtained a copy of the letter, organized by Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts, a classification member of the Banking Committee, and Senator Chris Konz from Delaware, who works for the Foreign Relations Committee. Other members of the Senate who signed Tim Kane from Virginia, Tami Dackerett from Illinois, Chris van Holin of Maryland and Jeff Mercury from Oregon. Senate members sent it to Foreign Minister Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessin.

Mr. Rubio and a political person in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maghreb HouseHe supervised the reduction of external aid, and the Bessent Agency supervised the financial penalties for Myanmar. Senators said in the letter that the US government should grant exemptions for sanctions on any ease of the earthquake that falls in Myanmar.

The United States did not send any specialized auxiliary teams to Myanmar after it hit the earthquake on Friday. More than 2,700 people died there and in the neighboring Thailand, according to authoritarian military leaders ruling in Myanmar. The Military Council requested assistance from other nations. China, Russia and India sent teams and supplies, as did Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.

As of the end of last week, the United States was unable to obtain a three -person evaluation team in the country, New York Times I mentioned Sunday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday that the crises teams were in preparation, but the severe cuts since late January have removed the infrastructure of the response teams to help with disasters in the United States. Several contractors in these teams have been launched in the US Agency’s discounts for international Development, and the agency’s offices in Washington have faltered that would help in transportation and logistical services for payment.

Senior officials have told senior officials that this winter was published to Myanmar and Thailand as human consultants by senior officials weeks ago to stay in Washington due to cutting positions. On Friday, as these other employees and colleagues were coordinating the responses to the earthquake, they received Email messages at the agency level Tell them that they will be discharged. I asked for everyone to go home on that day.

The Trump administration has also reduced the transportation contracts used to send firefighters and rescue workers in Virginia and South California to a global disaster areas when requested by other countries.

The total of the United States. The government’s annual spending on foreign aid was less than one percent of the federal budget.

The United States Embassy in Myanmar announced on Sunday that it will send up to $ 2 million of aid, which is much lower than modern American departments that were sent by similar disasters.

The Senate Speech was martyred in the Times story from Sunday, which revealed the shortcomings in the Trump administration’s response.

“Although the administration has reduced our ability to save lives efficiently and encourage American interests, we call on the US State Department and the International Development Agency to assess what the United States can do quickly for people in Burma, including the resources already in the region,” said members of the Senate:

They added that the Treasury should delegate “all transactions related to earthquake’s relief efforts in Burma, which can be prohibited by US sanctions.”

On Monday, Tami Bruce, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the government government’s evaluation team was “in the process of being there”, and that disaster experts in Washington, Manila and Bangkok were trying to help.