House has only so far approved $9 billion of the $60 billion relief bill, and will take up the rest of it next week, because as [Daily Show host Jon] Stewart put it, “what’s another week when you’ve been fucked for months?” He scolded the sixty-seven House Republicans who voted against the bill and wondered why they would vote against the bill, asking, “What would Jesus, or any other human being that isn’t an asshole, do?”
As for the argument that the bill was loaded with pork, Stewart shot back by saying that there were only two [...] paragraphs in the entire bill, about as much pork as in a PETA staff fridge. He said their reasoning was “bullshit,” and in particular called out a Mississippi Republican [Steven Palazzo] for voting against the bill while also, last year, requesting money for the national flood insurance program this past year for his constituents [for 2005 Hurricane Katrina reparations].
Mediaite
As for the argument that the bill was loaded with pork, Stewart shot back by saying that there were only two [...] paragraphs in the entire bill, about as much pork as in a PETA staff fridge. He said their reasoning was “bullshit,” and in particular called out a Mississippi Republican [Steven Palazzo] for voting against the bill while also, last year, requesting money for the national flood insurance program this past year for his constituents [for 2005 Hurricane Katrina reparations].
Mediaite
Typical politician. Here's another Republican vote against the $9 billion in flood relief:
MSNBC host Martin Bashir called out former future Vice President Rep. Paul Ryan on his show Friday for voting against $9.7 billion in Hurricane Sandy relief, when, in 2008, Ryan was happy to pass flood relief as part of a $162 billion supplemental appropriations bill.
[...]
[Mike] Viqueira explained that “They voted against it for the reasons Paul Ryan said. They said it wasn’t paid for, that the flood insurance program is essentially a bankrupt program. They’re essentially raising the debt ceiling on that, they object to that.” Bashir then noted, of Rep. Ryan, that “in 2008 he voted in favor of additional disaster response funding for the flood ravaged Midwest. It was called roll call vote 432, to be precise. He touted it in his own press release. Has he lost all compassion in the last four years, or does he just not like people in the Northeast?”
[...]
Viquiera responded, “Well, Martin, I cannot look into the man’s heart, but we can look at the fact that his own district around Racine, Wisconsin, Janesville was affected by some of that flooding in 2008. That was an enormous bill. [...] That was a $162 billion catch-all of the old school in Congress, that had all kinds of stuff in it. There was money there for overseas operations. there was money for military construction.
Mediaite
[...]
[Mike] Viqueira explained that “They voted against it for the reasons Paul Ryan said. They said it wasn’t paid for, that the flood insurance program is essentially a bankrupt program. They’re essentially raising the debt ceiling on that, they object to that.” Bashir then noted, of Rep. Ryan, that “in 2008 he voted in favor of additional disaster response funding for the flood ravaged Midwest. It was called roll call vote 432, to be precise. He touted it in his own press release. Has he lost all compassion in the last four years, or does he just not like people in the Northeast?”
[...]
Viquiera responded, “Well, Martin, I cannot look into the man’s heart, but we can look at the fact that his own district around Racine, Wisconsin, Janesville was affected by some of that flooding in 2008. That was an enormous bill. [...] That was a $162 billion catch-all of the old school in Congress, that had all kinds of stuff in it. There was money there for overseas operations. there was money for military construction.
Mediaite
Ummm....pork?
Eighteen of the 67 dissenters are first-term members, sworn in just a day earlier. But of the 49 Representatives with a prior House record who opposed Sandy aid, at least 37 had previously advocated for or touted emergency aid services following other disasters that affected their own constituents.
Think Progress
Think Progress
The list of 37, along with their requests for relief in their own areas, is in that Think Progress article if you're interested.
And let's give those 18 newbies the benefit of the doubt. Let's see what they do when their constituents are faced with a natural disaster.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
P.S. Alan Grayson called the 67 "the bath salts caucus - they'd rather eat your face than raise taxes on the rich." At which point, they were rechristened "the zombie caucus" by radio host Stephanie Miller .
