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Republicans wanting disaster assistance for their states -- and only for their states

lpetrich

lpetrich

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Travis Allen  on Twitter: "BREAKING: Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie is calling for emergency aid for his district following the tornadoes in Kentucky despite the fact that he’s voted against emergency aid for everyone else his entire time in Congress." / Twitter
noting
Thomas Massie often votes against disaster relief, except for Kentucky
from 2019 May 31
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie may have blocked a bipartisan $19 billion bill to help millions of Americans hit by natural disasters, but he doesn't mind asking for help when his Kentucky congressional district faces Mother Nature.

The libertarian-leaning Republican congressman has a record of voting against emergency disaster funding measures for other states, such as Superstorm Sandy, which ripped up the east coast, in 2013, and Hurricane Harvey, the costliest tropical storm on record, in 2017.

But a Courier Journal review of the Kentucky federal delegation's messages to the White House show, since taking office in 2012, Massie has made multiple pleas for money when the state and his congressional district are impacted.

Four times since 2015, Massie has signed letters to the U.S. president with requests that have raked in roughly $56 million for the Bluegrass.

...
In an April 5 letter to President Donald Trump, Massie joined Kentucky's two senators and five other representatives in asking for relief after a series of storms struck the state.

"We ask for your timely consideration," the letter said. The funding was approved on April 17, according to reports.
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When asked about it, he said that he was opposed to big spending.

Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie blocks disaster relief bill from 2019 May 28

That bill:
H.R.2157 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act, 2019 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

Some Republicans voted for that disaster bill.

U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 116th Congress - 1st Session - Vote 129
Yes: 85
No: 8 -- Blackburn (R-TN), Braun (R-IN), Crapo (R-ID), Lee (R-UT), McSally (R-AZ), Paul (R-KY), Risch (R-ID), Romney (R-UT)
Not voting: 7 -- Alexander (R-TN), Capito (R-WV), Durbin (D-IL), Enzi (R-WY), Moran (R-KS), Rounds (R-SD)

U.S. House: May 10, 2019, 12:30 PM | 116th Congress, 1st Session - Roll Call 202
D: Y 223, nv 11, tot 234
R: Y 34, N 150, nv 13, tot 197
Total: Y 257, N 150, nv 24, tot 431
 
Jemele Hill on Twitter: "We know @RandPaul is a heartless hypocrite. The people in Kentucky deserve the relief regardless of their buffoonish leadership, but if the Dems don’t use this against him and his party in the future, it is a missed opportunity." / Twitter
noting
Raw Story on Twitter: "Rand Paul begs Biden for federal aid to Kentucky tornado victims -- after a career of voting 'no' when others needed the same https://t.co/kvmA5TOmhB" / Twitter
noting
Rand Paul begs Biden for federal aid to Kentucky tornado victims -- after a career of voting 'no' when others needed the same
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky dashed off a letter to President Joe Biden today pleading for expeditious federal relief aid to victims of a deadly 200-mile tornado that struck his state Friday.

That was of course the right to do. But Paul is a strange one to have done it.

Throughout his two terms in the U.S. Senate, Paul has prided himself as a Tea Party fiscal conservative willing to say no to the most milquetoast causes if federal spending is involved. Opposing federal disaster relief is one of his pasttimes.

In 2017, Paul was one of just 17 senators to oppose an emergency $15.3 billion federal relief bill for victims of Hurricane Harvey. It had wreaked havoc similar to Friday’s tornado, but not in Kentucky.

In 2013, Paul was one of 31 Republican senators who voted against a $50.5 billion relief aid package for Hurricane Sandy -- “after previously disaster aid for their home states,” as reported by ThinkProgress.org.

In 2011, Paul’s first year in the Senate, he was among 38 Republicans voting against a major FEMA funding package despite the fact -- not lost upon publicintegrity.org -- that his own state of Kentucky had been the nation’s largest recipient of FEMA funding ($293 million), mostly because of a 2009 ice storm.
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He wrote to President Biden as if he was a fellow Democratic big spender. Ron Filipkowski on Twitter: "Rand Paul has become a socialist. (pic link)" / Twitter
Last night and early this morning devastating storms swept across multiple states, including Kentucky. A single tornado from that system may have been on the ground for over 200 miles, and a large swath of the Commonwealth has been severely hit. As the sun comes up this morning we will begin to understand the true scope of the devastation, but we already know of loss of life and severe property damage.

The governor of the Commonwealth has requested federal assistance this morning, and certainly further requests will be coming as the situation is assessed. I fully support those requests and ask that you move expeditiously to approve the appropriate resources for our state.
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It's not just disaster assistance. He also voted against the first COVID-19 aid passage, $8 B in 2020 Mar 5, the only Senator to do so. He grumbled that this spending was not offset by some spending cut elsewhere, a condition that he does not attach to aid to his home state.
 
𝕸𝖆𝖙𝖙 𝕭𝖔𝖒𝖇 💣 on Twitter: "@RandPaul This you? (pic link)" / Twitter
The text was from Rand Paul blasts Chris Christie’s ‘gimme, gimme, gimme’ attitude | Washington Examiner - July 29, 2013 12:00 AM
“They’re precisely the same people who are unwilling to cut the spending, and their `Gimme, gimme, gimme – give me all my Sandy money now.’” Paul said, in an interview with the Associated Press. “Those are the people who are bankrupting the government and not letting enough money be left over for national defense.”
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PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 on Twitter: "Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky objecting to the Gulf Coast Hurricane Aid Act. (vid link)" / Twitter - S. 2359

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 on Twitter: "Rand Paul justifying his objection to the hurricane relief effort of his Republican colleague. (vid link)" / Twitter

Acyn on Twitter: "Rand Paul: People here will say they have great compassion and they want to help the people of Puerto Rico, the people of Texas, and the people of Florida but notice they have great compassion with someone else’s money (vid link)" / Twitter

The same Rand Paul who wants other people's money spent on his state.

Lindy Li on Twitter: "Rand Paul: Begs President Biden for relief for Kentucky

Also Rand Paul: ALWAYS votes against relief for victims in other states (including for Hurricane Katrina, Sandy, Maria, Harvey) & even 9/11 first responders. Thinks FEMA should be disbanded

GOP hypocrisy is boundless" / Twitter
 
For Hurricane Harvey:
H.R.2266 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act, 2017 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 115th Congress - 1st Session - Vote 247
Yes: 80
No: 17 - all Republicans, including Rand Paul
Not Voting: 1

For Hurricane Sandy:
H.R.152 - 113th Congress (2013-2014): Making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, to improve and streamline disaster assistance for Hurricane Sandy, and for other purposes. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 113th Congress - 1st Session - Vote 4
Yes: 62
No: 36 - all Republicans, including Rand Paul
Not Voting: 2

Jan 15, 2013, 07:25 PM | 113th Congress, 1st Session - Roll Call 23 | Bill Number: H. R. 152
D: Y 192, N 1, nv 7, tot 200
R: Y 49, N 179, nv 4, tot 232
Total: Y 241, N 180, nv 11, tot 432

2011 FEMA funding I was unable to track down, however.
 
Back in my Secular Cafe days, I created some threads on the Republicans' response to Hurricane Sandy.

"Republicans Mooching after Natural Disasters in Their States"

After the explosion of a fertilizer factory in West, Texas:
Who wanted it:
Governor Rick Perry, secessionist
Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, and Rep. Bill Flores, all three of whom had voted against aid for the New York City area after Hurricane Sandy

After some tornadoes in Oklahoma:
Sen. James Inhofe

After some floods in Colorado:
Reps. Mike Coffman, Cory Gardner, Doug Lamborn, and Scott Tipton
The Democrats in Colorado's delegation had supported aid to victims of Sandy, however
 
"David Koch vs. Federal aid to NYC" - one of the Koch brothers, now dead
From patch.com:
New Jersey's Americans for Prosperity State Director called on legislators to reject the bill, saying that aid would be a burden on the country's taxpayers and would be misspent at all levels of government by officials glomming for every last nickel.

The bill, he said, would lead to a spending free-for-all and is merely an attempt to secure funding for wasteful endeavors by appealing to emotion.

"Tragic things happen every day to people - worse things than having your house flood - and we don't hand them a check," he said. "Having your shore house flood doesn't rank."

"This is not a federal government responsibility. We need to suck it up and be responsible for taking care of ourselves."
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After they stop begging governments to protect them and hire their own guards.
It seems particularly cruel that the Koch political machine would use its vast network of paid activists and professional operatives to kill this bill. For one thing, this is David Koch's community. From his Upper East Side apartment, Koch lives only a subway ride away from the devastation in Red Hook. Notably, Koch's group gave away free gasoline during the election in a wide-scale anti-Obama stunt, yet had nothing to give to the victims of the storm. Now, Koch, one of the richest men in the world, is actually trying to take something away from them.

There's another wrinkle to this political assault on the aid request that makes it even more heartless. (No, it's not the rather arbitrary decision to target this piece of federal funding over others. Recently, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta identified $74 billion in unnecessary military spending, but AFP has not demanded that the government immediately axe these funds.)
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Seems like "Occupy Sandy Recovery" has done MUCH more to aid New Yorkers than David Koch or his brother Charles. I find it curious that the Koch brothers and other big right-wing moneybags aren't giving lots more aid than that Occupy effort has been doing, complete with loudly advertising it with "For every dollar of value of aid that those dirty Occupy hippies are giving, we will give at least $10 worth."
 
"Did Hurricane Sandy Save Obamacare?"

Did Hurricane Sandy Save Obamacare? | Washington Monthly
Book review:
The Sympathetic State: Disaster Relief and the Origins of the American Welfare State
by Michele Landis Dauber
University of Chicago Press, 378 pp.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a relatively recent creation, but, as Dauber shows, federal disaster assistance stretches back to the early days of the Republic when Congress began to provide help for the victims of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12 and during the War of 1812. By the Civil War era, Congress had passed fifty relief bills covering everything from Mississippi River floods to the devastation of the Kansas grasshopper plague of 1874. Even fervent believers in states' rights rarely expressed constitutional qualms about federal disaster relief. Between 1860 and 1930, there were more than ninety additional federal relief provisions, in addition to the millions expended in the South after the Civil War. From time to time, a few southerners voiced halfhearted constitutional objections that were uniformly disregarded. There was a nearly complete consensus that disaster relief fell within Congress's power to tax and spend for the general welfare.
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Or the common defense.

New Deal advocates, including FDR's lawyers, cited Federal disaster relief as a precedent, making comparisons between natural disasters and economic collapses.
These arguments found a receptive judicial audience. In upholding unemployment compensation, the Fifth Circuit emphasized that “for many years and in numerous instances Congress has recognized [that] calamities such as floods, droughts, earthquakes and pestilences … are matters affecting the general welfare of the United States.” The Supreme Court duly upheld the old-age program as a remedy for the “purge of national calamity.” The unemployment program was also upheld as an exercise of Congress’s tax and spending powers. As Dauber persuasively shows, the precedent of disaster aid played an important role in this constitutional evolution—though she fails to demonstrate that it was the only significant influence, as she sometimes seems to suggest.
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Reviewer Don Farber concludes
It is no coincidence that the conservative Republicans who loathed the AHCA as unconstitutional also called for the abolition of FEMA. Mitt Romney parroted these positions in his presidential campaign. That might not have been a problem if Hurricane Sandy had not intervened in the last days before the election, reminding Americans of how much they have always expected the federal government to come to the rescue after disasters. But few of us -- and surely few of the more fervent believers in the jurisprudence of original intent -- are aware of how far back this attitude stretches in American history.
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The Sympathetic State: Disaster Relief and the Origins of the American Welfare State, Dauber -- the book's home page
Michele Landis Dauber recovers this crucial aspect of American history, tracing the roots of the modern American welfare state beyond the New Deal and the Progressive Era back to the earliest days of the republic when relief was forthcoming for the victims of wars, fires, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes.
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The Sympathetic State: Disaster Relief and the Origins of the American Welfare State - Point of View - Stanford Lawyer Magazine - Stanford Law School - has an excerpt from her book, describing some of the legal battles that the New Dealers fought.
 
Let's see...
  • Grasshoppers
  • Too much water: floods
  • Too little water: droughts
  • Strong winds: tornadoes and hurricanes
  • Fires
  • Earthquakes
I do think that disaster assistance should include assistance in becoming less vulnerable to future disasters. Like how  Valmeyer, Illinois was moved uphill after being flooded by the Mississippi River in 1993.

On the other side is
Oso, WA was a tiny town on the north fork of the Stillaguamish River. It was across that river from a hillside that geologists had long warned was unstable.

Among the town's residents was a certain self-styled "Sovereign Citizen", Thomas Satterlee. Back in the 1990's, he declared the area near the town "Freedom County", independent of any Federal or state laws. He was a big objector to a 2006 zoning regulation limiting development in that town, from how unsafe it was.

He was missing, likely buried by that landslide. Seems like he did not have much sovereignty over unstable hillsides.
 
Rand Paul is making a lot of news on his hypocrisy.

It's pretty typical shenanigans from the conservatives (or conservolibertarians like Paul who are completely different!) to feign principles but then violate the principles in support of institutions of power or themselves.
 
Just cut and paste their arguments on other subjects like unemployment checks. "Those people over there are just lazy, living off of the government. I am in trouble and need the government assistance that I paid for with my taxes."
 
And, I am sure they will take credit for bringing money to their state that they voted against.
 
Rand Paul called out for disaster relief hypocrisy - YouTube - "After deadly tornadoes devastated parts of Kentucky, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) asked President Biden for federal aid. However, the senator has a history of opposing aid for disaster victims. "

I linked to it because it listed what RP has voted against in the past.


How Members of Congress Voted on the Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act - Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act

H.R.1327 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
Sponsorship: D 235, R 96, tot 330 -- nearly all the Democrats and half the Republicans

Jul 12, 2019, 01:36 PM | 116th Congress, 1st Session - Roll Call 474 | Bill Number: H. R. 1327
D: Y 226, nv 9, tot 235
R: Y 176, N 11, nv 10, tot 197
I: N 1, tot 1
Tot: Y 402, N 12, nv 19, tot 433


Rand Paul introduced this amendment: S.Amdt.929 to H.R.1327 - 116th Congress (2019-2020) | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
"To require a sequestration of certain direct spending."

U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 116th Congress - 1st Session - Vote 223
The vote: Y 22, N 77, nv 1
All the yes votes were from Republicans.

The final vote:
U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 116th Congress - 1st Session - Vote 224
Y 97, N 2, nv 1

The only ones to vote against it: Mike Lee R-UT and Rand Paul R-KY.

This related bill didn't go anywhere: S.546 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
Sponsorship: D 45, I 2, R 29, tot 76
 
Back to the video. "As FEMA funds run out, Senators from states with most disasters oppose funding bill"

As FEMA funds run out, senators from states with most disasters oppose funding bill – Center for Public Integrity
Eleven Republican U.S. senators who represent the states with the most FEMA-declared disasters since the start of 2009 voted against a bill designed to keep the agency’s disaster relief fund from running out of cash, an iWatch News analysis reveals.

The top two states, Texas and Oklahoma, combined for more than a quarter of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s declared disasters since Jan. 1, 2009. Still, the four Republicans from those states most frequently aided by FEMA opposed legislation to increase the fund without offsets. One of them, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, said to do so would be “unconscionable.”

Along with Texas (75 disasters) and Oklahoma (45), seven other states also had 10 or more disasters declared since the start of 2009, shortly before President Obama took office. All seven Democratic senators from these states joined with a unanimous Democratic conference and eight Republicans to advance legislation to add $5.1 billion to the fund. In the wake of costly relief efforts following Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, and wildfires across Texas, FEMA’s relief fund teetered on the verge of running out of money this week, with few dollars remaining to get the agency through the end of the fiscal year.
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I could not track down those votes.

REACTION: Kentucky senator explains decision to block funding for Louisiana recovery
A halt on the latest effort for relief funding as Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy’s (R-La.) proposal for unanimous approval of the “Gulf Coast Hurricane Aid Act” was again denied.

Last month, Kennedy introduced a bill that would authorize $1.1 billion to be spent in rebuilding and repairing areas of Louisiana that have been affected by the storms.
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Rand Paul:
“Federal disaster relief is decided by FEMA and people apply for it when you have a disaster. Any time we’ve had a disaster in Kentucky, the county officials come to me and we write a letter to FEMA to try to get them included. What happened was some senators from Louisiana came to the floor without any committee processing and didn’t say they wanted more money for disaster. They said they wanted more money for Louisiana. That’s not the way it works. Louisiana should apply like anybody else and the President has to approve this and the governor has to approve it and it has to go through FEMA. We have to see how much money is in FEMA. I objected because I don’t think the money should go to one particular state. I think it should go through the process that FEMA has put in place to determine who needs the money the most and who’s had the biggest disasters,” Paul said in response when asked why he shot down the bill.

Local and state leaders are frustrated by Paul’s decision, since they say the bill wasn’t in regard to FEMA funding.
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The bills:
S.2336 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Gulf Coast Hurricane Aid Act of 2021 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
S.2359 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Gulf Coast Hurricane Aid Act of 2021 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
 
I have observed that the self definition of Libertarian is very flexible, depending upon their personal concerns. I have a friend in California, a self identified Libertarian, who regularly faces the possibility of losing all he owns to wild fires, but also thinks people in Louisiana are to blame for living in a place prone to hurricanes. He never objects to public money being spent on fire relief, but doesn't think hurricane relief is a good use of Federal funds.

He receives a Federal pension because he is a Coast Guard veteran. I once asked why I should have to pay taxes for the Coast Guard, since I don't live on the coast. He didn't really get the joke.
 
Jason Harvestdancer said:
This thread makes it sound like they are unique in this.
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Jason Harvestdancer, there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in Fox News.

In my tracking down of how Sen. Rand Paul voted, I found out that Democrats vote 100% for aid bills, even though much of that aid goes to pro-Republican states. Try doing the research yourself. Show everybody what a genius researcher and diligent worker you are by doing that. Look in congress.gov and clerk.house.gov and senate.gov -- actual sources as opposed to Fox News and the likes of Tucker Carlson.
 
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