The House GOP declared that it wouldn't pass the Senate's Hurricane Sandy relief bill because it was full of pork (I've seen that bandied about a lot, but without many actual specifics — though that's another matter). Instead, they had a smaller bill in mind to pass with "essential" relief services — which they then failed to even bring up for a vote before the 112th Congress adjourned.
The new House did manage to pass a $10B billl on Friday to fund the National Flood Insurance Program, which was about to run dry. Remarkably, 67 GOP Reps still voted against it — voted against funding an insurance program already in place by law. And, gallingly, many of those Reps are on the record in the past few years asking for just that same kind of Federal assistance or urging their own constituents to apply for when their own districts were hit by floods.
'Voting to deny funding to the flood insurance program—after anxiously seeking the very same sort of government funding when it was needed for their districts—should disgust even the most ardent supporter of money saving measures and small government advocates just as it should clearly dismay every single constituent in the districts these men represent—decent people, be they Republican or Democrat, who will instantly be sickened that their Congressman demanded that the nation turn away from others who are suffering when the nation showed up to help these folks when they were in need.'
The article quotes Max Graves (R-MO), Paul Broun (R-GA), and Mo Brooks (R-AL). He doesn't mention Paul Ryan (R-WI), who back in 2008 was all gung-ho about federal assistance (http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/paul-ryan-votes-against-sandy-relief-010413). Ryan, out to win hearts and minds for a 2016 Presidential Run — voted no on the immediate Sandy relief bill.
(Ryans voiced concern was over how the NFIP needs "reforms". That's fine, Paul — but reforming the program while people are in immediate, desperate need of its funds is a cruel joke.)
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GOP Congressmen Who Begged For Federal Aid In Disasters Striking Home Districts Vote Against Sandy Aid – Forbes
The first piece of the aid bill to assist victims of Super Storm Sandy passed the House of Representatives today, providing $9.7 billion to fund the National Flood Insurance Program so that claims mad…
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