The Republican Ideology: Do Not Give, But Take All You Can
Guess what? 67 Republican House members voted against federal aid for Hurricane Sandy. Appropriately called “a bunch of jackasses” by former New York Senator Al D’Amato, these pearls of human compassion come predominantly from states that have gotten far more than their share of federal assistance, and many are absolute experts at begging for disaster aid.
The states most heavily represented in the GOP anti-aid block are Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
Arizona has made 8 major disaster declarations for FEMA aid over the past ten years, and has requested aid from FEMA on more than 30 other occasions over the same time period.
Georgia, which also made many major disaster and other declarations to FEMA, received $300 million in federal mortgage relief aid, and kept 95% of it, as they have similarly tucked away hundreds of millions of federal dollars which were supposed to have been spent on highway projects.
North Carolina must have forgotten that it begged for and got federal aid after Hurricane Irene hit, while South Carolina, which receives $1.35 per tax dollar paid and has begged for federal relief for droughts and other disasters, has also tucked away hundreds of millions of federal aid dollars intended for mortgage aid.
Tennessee, still the proud home of the Tennessee Valley Authority, gets $12 billion a year in federal spending, ranking 7th per capita, and 12th in federal aid received by state, and has made 12 major disaster declarations to FEMA in just the past three years alone.
Texas, meanwhile, received billions in federal aid after Hurricane Ike in 2008 and blasted the federal government for a slow response. In fact, Texas tops the national list of FEMA disaster applications, with a total of 332.
Not long ago, Republican senators tried to block a larger overall bill for Sandy relief:
…since 1989, states represented by senators who voted against the package have been among the biggest beneficiaries of a similar pot of money: the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which nationwide has provided at least $8 billion to help states recovering from disasters prepare to face future catastrophe.
Mississippi Rep. Steven Palazzo, meanwhile, who voted against aid for Sandy because it was not “paid for,” just 6 months ago cheered federal aid being granted to his own district in response to Hurricane Isaac.
Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs, Colorado, begged the feds for extra FEMA spending following a summer fire in 2012—just two months after he tried to pass legislation limiting the aid, and six months before denying it to Sandy victims.
Many are trying to claim that Democrats loaded the bill up with “pork,” a demonstrably false claim.
Here is a list of the 67 who voted “no,” by state, with contact phone numbers:
Mo Brooks (Ala.) (202) 225-4801
Trent Franks (Ariz.) (202) 225-4576
Paul Gosar (Ariz.) (202) 225-2315
Matt Salmon (Ariz.) (202) 225-2635
David Schweikert (Ariz.) (202) 225-2190
Tom Cotton (Ark.) (202) 225-3772
Tom McClintock (Calif.) (202) 225-2511
Ed Royce (Calif.) (202) 225-4111
Doug Lamborn (Colo.) (202) 225-4422
Ron DeSantis (Fla.) (202) 225-2706
Ted Yoho (Fla.) (202) 225-5744
Doug Collins (Ga.) (202) 225-9893
Tom Graves (Ga.) (202) 225-5211
Paul Broun (Ga.) (202) 225-4101
Tom Price (Ga.) (202) 225-4501
Rob Woodall (Ga.) (202) 225-4272
Randy Hultgren (Ill.) (202) 225-2976
Marlin Stutzman (Ind.) (202) 225-4436
Todd Rokita (Ind.) (202) 225-5037
Lynn Jenkins (Kan.) (202) 225-6601
Tim Huelskamp (Kan.) (202) 225-2715
Mike Pompeo (Kan.) (202) 225-6216
Kevin Yoder (Kan.) (202) 225-2865
Garland Barr (Ky.) (202) 225-4706
Thomas Massie (Ky.) (202) 225-3465
John Fleming (La.) (202) 225-2777
Andy Harris (Md.) (202) 225-5311
Justin Amash (Mich.) (202) 225-3831
Dan Benishek (Mich.) (202) 225-4735
Kerry Bentivolio (Mich.) (202) 225-8171
Steven Palazzo (Miss.) (202) 225-5772
Sam Graves (Mo.) (202) 225-7041
Steve Daines (Mont.) (202) 225-3211
Steve Pearce (N.M.) (202) 225-2365
George Holding (N.C.) (202) 225-3032
Richard Hudson (N.C.) (202) 225-3715
Mark Meadows (N.C.) (202) 225-6401
Virginia Foxx (N.C.) (202) 225-2071
Brad Wenstrup (Ohio) (202) 225-3164
Jim Jordan (Ohio)(202) 225-2676
Steve Chabot (Ohio) (202) 225-2216
Markwayne Mullin (Okla.) (202) 225-2701
Jim Bridenstine (Okla.) (202) 225-2211
Keith Rothfus (Pa.) (202) 225-2065
Scott Perry (Pa.) (202) 225-2565
Jeff Duncan (S.C.) (202) 225-5301
Joe Wilson (S.C.) (202) 225-2452
Mick Mulvaney (S.C.) (202) 225-5501
Trey Gowdy (S.C.) (202) 225-6030
Louie Gohmert (Texas) (202) 225-3035
Michael Conaway (Texas) (202) 225-3605
Randy Neugebauer (Texas) (202) 225-4005
Mac Thornberry (Texas) (202) 225-3706
Randy Weber (Texas) (202) 225-2831
Roger Williams (Texas) (202) 225-9896
Bill Flores (Texas) (202) 225-6105
Kenny Marchant (Texas) (202) 225-6605
Phil Roe (Tenn.)(202) 225-6356
Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) (202) 225-2811
Scott DesJarlais (Tenn.) (202) 225-6831
John Duncan (Tenn.) (202) 225-5435
Stephen Fincher (Tenn.) (202) 225-4714
Bob Goodlatte (Va.) (202) 225-5431
Tom Petri (Wis.) (202) 225-2476
Paul Ryan (Wis.) (202) 225-3031
Sean Duffy (Wis.) (202) 225-3365
Jim Sensenbrenner (Wis.) (202) 225-5101
If you’re not in their district, Congress people could care less what you think.
Every Republican Representative is deathly afraid of getting primaried out by a Tea Party type in next year’s low-turnout off-year primary, so what they do fear is the most radical and/or misinformed Republican in their district. That person has the real power over them, given our crappy political system and media environment.
And in the larger analysis, if we’re not going to follow the Japan example, we’ve got to do one of two things, or some combination: raise taxes and/or cut spending.
The Republicans DO NOT want to raise taxes any more. Democrats don’t want to either, other than some more marginal pain on the top 5-10% which isn’t enough to fix the deficit.
We could double corporate taxes now, but that’s not on the table apparently.
That leaves spending cuts, but the problem with spending cuts is electorates send Congress people to bring back money for their district, not cut money from it.
What an unfixable mess. I don’t know how this is going to end and I wish I were 7 time zones away again so I didn’t have to think about it so much.