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Memo Pad

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5 House Republicans Who Voted For Katrina Relief And Against Sandy Aid

January 16th, 2013 4:37 pm Josh Marks

The hypocrisy of House Republicans was on full display for the American people to see on Tuesday, when Congress finally passed $51 billion in Hurricane Sandy relief and recovery aid that they should have passed weeks ago, if there were an actual rational and reasonable group of GOP lawmakers. But instead, 179 Republicans decided that emergency disaster relief, something any democratic nation on the planet would provide its citizens, must be offset by spending cuts.

But many of the Republicans who shafted their “colleagues” in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut had in the past voted for disaster relief when the Gulf Coast region was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Mother Nature doesn’t choose between blue states and red states, but apparently many House Republicans do.

The worst offender was Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), a member of the Tea Party Caucus, whose proposal to cut $20.4 billion in federal spending to offset Sandy relief was rejected. Mulvaney wasn’t in office for Katrina, but he did accept a federal disaster relief loan 15 years ago.

It should be noted that the bill passed with a minority of GOP support, marking the second time the Hastert Rule was violated, the other time being the “fiscal cliff” deal. Under the Hastert Rule, the Speaker will not allow a vote on a bill unless a majority of the ruling party supports the bill. But with Boehner violating the rule, some conservatives such as David Frum are urging Boehner to completely ditch the rule to make the House less dysfunctional. Could this strategy help in the debt ceiling deal?

After the fiscal cliff deal passed, former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) told Fox News Radio that ”maybe you can do it once, maybe you can do it twice, but when you start making deals, when you have to get Democrats to pass the legislation, you are not in power anymore.”

Here are five of the 56 House Republicans who voted for Katrina relief but against Sandy relief. Daily Kos has the full list of Republicans who voted for Katrina aid but against Sandy aid.

Photo by “ma neeks” via Flickr.com

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  • bpai99

    “An ounce of hypocrisy is worth a pound of ambition.” – Oscar Wilde

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7DKWSXHQIDBW5PUAPZ2HZAYYUY Baron Cormac

    So the Northeastern Representatives will need to remember this the next time Florida or South Carolina ask for hurricane relief, Texas asks for hurricane or drought relief, or California asks for drought, wildfire or earthquake relief. We also need to remember the next time Wisconsin asks for relief from Paul Ryan.

    • docb

      We must not punish the people because of the arrogance and hypocrisy of their reps..Punish the reps..Call them out and crash their emails ….Get them voted out but until then make them miserable! At the local and the national level..Daily!

      1.866.311.3405 or 1.866 220.0044

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5LCXMWHFPRMEYD4RWN56QE2FF4 Grunge45

        They will not be voted out of office. The voting public that put them in office will keep them there. The voters share the same hypocrisy and disgusting qualities of their “representatives”.

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

          Indeed it is the rubes who continue to vote against their own self-interest that should be held responsible. These cretins in office did not become so digusting after the election, it was clear the type of people they were long ago. The voters should be held accountable for their actions.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

          Ignorance is rampant in the south and the north is catching the disease.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

        Disagree doeb. These despicable five should be placed over a red ant hill and left to die as the Apaches did to their enemies.

        • docb

          Now that is a visual, Tom!

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      Baron: What we really need is a national recall election for every member of congress and elect representatives that stop starting wars and begin helping our people.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

    A crook, three frauds and a pig. What a great bunch and so typical of todays GOP. People will remember come November 2014.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      Sorry Lynda, it’s a Congressional disease that stretches across party lines. All one can really say Congress is sick and needs treatment.

      • Skeptic1955

        Try to turn it back but it won’t fool anyone Tom. It’s the GOP that won’t compromise, say yes to anything or even be polite.

  • nobsartist

    TRAITORS.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      nobsartist: WHO?

      • nobsartist

        guess.

  • SchoolBoardMember

    Was it 5 or 56? What Democrats from the Northeast voted against Katrina Aid, but for Sandy Aid. We have to be ready for the counterargument.

    • sleeve

      Only 1 Democrat voted against HR 152 which was the relief bill for Sandy victims, that slimebag is Jim Cooper of TN. I don’t think voting against disaster aid bills was very popular in 2005, as it seems to be among the vacuous cretins of the South and the heartless land now.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

        sleeve: You have to understand that he represents a Republican state and is nothing but an ignorant go along vote. He’s just as bad as those infamous five.

  • http://www.facebook.com/michael.schiller.1232 Michael Schiller

    These are five anti- American non-Christians. They line their own pockets with the taxes of the people they deny help to. The money for aid to disaster victims should come from their pay and benefits. They haven’t earned either. If they worked in the private secter, they would have been fired long ago. But, alas, they aren’t good enough to work in the private sector. All they really are is reciepiants for an unsustainable entitlement.

    • highpckts

      Oh but they are good “Christians’! They carry guns, hate women and don’t believe in “takers” being “given” anything!

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      There must be a few honest, caring, and dedicated members of congress. Maybe we need a background check on ever member which includes a psychological examination. The citizens of New York and New Jersey deserve disaster aid just as much as any other state including Texas.

  • http://twitter.com/robertanton Robert Anton

    Hypocrites.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/JH3JTTPFQS56BFHFK6N2IPU2PY nick

    If only proscription was still around :(

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5LCXMWHFPRMEYD4RWN56QE2FF4 Grunge45

    These people probably believe God speaks directly to them, and agrees with all they say. They illustrate all that is disgusting and hypocritical in the Republican ranks. They are the slime of the earth.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      My goodness Grunge 45. Oral Roberts said God spoke to him. So did many other preachers and evangelists. Yes, Oral took money from a Dog Track, another patronized prostitutes, and many of the others stole money, duped congregations, and totally left the public in disbelief. However, I don’t believe they were were all Republicans. “Slime?” Isn’t that what a put in hamburger meat at the market to make it weigh more? Man, that really is bad!

  • TonyinMO

    Thank goodness that the Republicans in Congress stood up to all the pork projects and moronic spending the democrats tried to stuff into that bill.

    At least someone is watching spending in DC. It certainly isn’t 0bama & CO

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      Tonyin MO: As an Independent I must say your comment exemplifies the epitomy of ignorance that is common in the Truman state. I personally emptied my closet for the citizens of Joplin following their disaster. Truman himself complained of a “DO NOTHING CONGRESS” and not aiding the citizens of New Jersey and New York would be like not aiding the citizens of Joplin. Before you blame the Democrats for pork you best look at all the pork that has come to Missouri as a result of Republican representation. By the way, I voted for Truman as he was leaders, not a Republican New York Mayor. Check your facts!

      • TonyinMO

        Tom you are just another empty headed liberal ashamed of what you really are posing as an independent. You know damn good and well that bill was full of pork.

        The Obama Administration has requested $60.4 billion for the response and recovery related to Hurricane Sandy. This enormous request vividly illustrates the problems with the federal government’s and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) current approach to natural disasters. It also demonstrates the profligate spending approach taken by the Obama Administration over the last four years.

        It also further reflects the President’s cavalier attitude toward spending and deficits. He intends to exploit loopholes in the Budget Control Act that allow this new spending, above existing spending limits, without offsets. In an era of chronic trillion-dollar deficits, this is an act of willful fiscal negligence.

        The Upcoming Budget Is the Proper Place to Request These Funds.

        Roughly $3 billion of the $60.4 billion request is for federal departments and agencies to repair or replace federal assets. Like disaster-mitigation funding requests, all requests for funding for federal departments and agencies that does not flow to states, localities, businesses, or citizens for response and recovery activities should not be included in this supplemental request; rather, those items should be placed in the upcoming budget after a more thorough analysis and prioritization of those funding requests.

        Some of the items in the funding request lack the necessary rigor that is typical of spending proposals. For instance, the Obama Administration wants $200 million for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be used at the discretion of the Secretary. This request is an open invitation to wasteful spending.

        Are you in favor of out of control spending? Please quit repeating the Democrats talking points if you’re such an independent try thinking for yourself.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KYK6RLLARKU3CZT5VBTTAXTG3I Felix

    Five House Republican voted against Sandy Aid, they do that because they are angry and that is the only way they can go to sleep at night. Those Republicans are really mad that Obama was reelected and will be in the White House for four more years.

    New York and New Jersey are the richest Estate of the Uninon and those Five Republican one day are going to need Federal Ais and we New Yorkers will stand for them. It is sad that some politicians blinded by racial issues denaid help to those that lost they properties. By the way most of those that lost everything are or were (Republicans) and we Democrats are aware of that.

    We Democrats are humble people and we do not care who is Republican or Democrat, who is Black or White we put our country first!
    Ideassoul

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      Felix: I am 80 years old and in 1936 to vote for a Republican would have been like jumping off the Empire State Building straight through the gates of hell. When I was in college I was duped into joining the League of Young Conservatives. When I moved to Texas you either registered Democrat of was limited in voting. In 2008 I left the Democratic Party because they were no longer representing the way I believed was correct. I am now an established Independent that thinks for himself, votes for who he believes will best represent me. Yes I voted for Hillary, and yes I voted for Obama. I am a conservative Independent, but I don’t believe in licking a nickle for days before you spend it, especially when there are chug holes in the streets. The people that call them selves Tea Partiers are an extreme right wing bunch of folks the come from ignorant areas. They are not interested is the welfare of the citizens, they are only interested in power and notoriety. The Governor of New Jersey has it right. He’s a troubled Republican as a result. We as a genuine people should do unto others as we would have them do unto us. The victims of Sandy have deserved better than a nickle licking congress and a bunch of Tea Party zealots.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KYK6RLLARKU3CZT5VBTTAXTG3I Felix

    Donald Trump disappointed that is nothing new. This man is a man that take issues with every body his does not like, his main disappointment was that Obama was reelected. And that he will not be invited to go to the White House.

    Donald is angry and I believe he has right to do so, he has million dollars he wanted to be United States President and he never will be. It is a great disappointment in life when you wake up every morning thinking that you can buy the world and later on you find out that money do not make every body happy. Donald is a man that every day go out looking for some body to have a confrontation. Probably there is something missing in his life, probably come from his child hood when he and Obama played ball in the dirt in Kenya!
    ideassoul

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/A4FWDOYB2YY4ORNTZ2UW5CSWXQ fidel

    The Tea Party Emerge again,They not care the People and his own members of the Republican Party.This Member Darrell R-CA ,take notes Californians ,this Guy not has to be there,we has to Remove OK.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/AO5XGV65KYB5J75FJVYGKPHZOU L. Roy

    I received a really hateful email from Rep Jeb Hensarling talking about why he voted against Sandy relief. I honestly don’t think he realized the hateful tone of his email, but underneath it was very scathing I have attached the text:

    Yesterday, the House voted to pass Hurricane Sandy relief legislation, which I was unable to support. While Hurricane Sandy undoubtedly represents one of the great natural disasters of recent history, I have serious concerns that this legislation’s cost of over $50 billion, which is not offset, has the potential to move us even further down the road to bankruptcy.

    Sadly, Hurricane Sandy isn’t the only disaster we face as a nation. The tragic reality is that our nation is broke. We have amassed more debt in the last four years than was accumulated from President George Washington through President Bill Clinton. Our spending trajectory is unsustainable by any account. Our swelling $16.4 trillion debt threatens our national security, our economic well-being and our children’s very future. If we don’t quit spending money we don’t have, it is they who will become the next victims — think Greece. It is past time to re-examine the proper role of the federal government in providing disaster relief and how that relief is financed.

    …

    America is not just operating on borrowed money — we’re operating on borrowed time. Today, it is not a question of if bond markets will turn on us, but when. Unless we change our out-of-control spending ways, we will be the first generation in American history to leave the next generation with less freedom, fewer opportunities and a lower standard of living. We have no greater moral responsibility than to preserve the blessings of liberty and opportunity for future generations. A compassionate nation will not allow a great physical tragedy of today to ever become an even greater fiscal tragedy for our children tomorrow.

    • sleeve

      Exhibit A in his recall petition. We can’t let these heartless clowns control our public money anymore. This Jethro Hensarling creepoid clown is a psycho.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

        sleeve: Now you’re catching on. Demand a recall election of every representative that voted against aid to the Sandy victims. Better than that, why not demand a recall election of an entire congress that can’t chew gum and walk straight at the same time?

    • FredAppell

      I hope he remembers his letter to you when we have a natural disaster during a Republican Presidency in a red state. You should file that one away and spring it on him when it is appropriate to do so. Big kudos to you for getting his office to send you that email. It’s the gift that will keep on giving.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      L. Roy, I”ll bet the house Jeb wouldn’t vote for a Reclamation Act that calls for a 5% of individual total wealth confiscation being assessed to pay off this national debt he helped make. Let’s get real, the Republicans have been just as guilty as the Democrats in making this debt. We don’t need a military that is stronger and larger than the next 26 countries put together, yet I feel sure he is one that voted the past two wars we launched against other countries. These five representatives are a fine example of a “Nation of Cowards.” Helping our citizens in a disaster is a much better investment that financing wars the gain us nothing.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

      Yes indeed the national debt is a looming problem, but we must keep perspective on the actual numbers: The last Clinton budget ended in the first year of the Bush administration, and on Sept 30, 2001 the debt was $5,807 trillions. On the last day of the last Bush budget Sept 30, 2009 is was $11.9 trillion dollars. Today is is $16.4 trillion dollars. Under Bush alone it went up $6.1 trillion dollars. Under the current administration is has increasd $4.5 trillion dollars.

      We must ask the question of what happened since Clinton left office and with a surplus and how it went so wrong. A little honesty is required from all sides to correctly answer that question.

      The United States if nothing like Greece. Look up ‘monetary sovereignty’ for guidance to the difference between the two countries.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

        Lynda: The Bush tax cuts is the obvious reason the debt increased so quickly. It was the worst mistake Bush made other than taking us into Iraq.
        Being at war 10 years in Iraq and Afganistan has added two trillion to the debt. By the time Obama was elected the interest alone was 458 billion a year. So nearly two trillion a year of the increase since Obama is interest. If we had not had the Bush tax cuts the debt would approximate eight trillion. This is really a mere drop in the bucket when you consider the debt to worth ratio or the debt to credit ratio. Obama made a mistake by allowing the Bush tax cuts to be extended for one year. Frankly speaking, we need a National Reclamation Bill calling for the confiscation of 5% of the personal worth of every citizen to pay this off. I feel sure Mr. Romney would love this as would Mr. Murdoch.

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

          The CBO recently scored the Bush Tax Cuts as being responsible for up to 60% of the deficit by 2017. Of course that was done before the fiscal cliff deal. What the new scoring will be I don’t know. I hope that you’ve not forgotten that the 2nd worse financial collapse in the last hundred years also made the deficit even worse than just tax cuts and war. All in all I agree with the guts of your argument.

  • Eleanore Whitaker

    The pork was put into that legislation so the Tea Party Twerps would have an excuse to reduce the funding. It’s time to put the GOP on notice of the “Scorched Ass” policy. This is the antidote to GOP Slash and Burn. This is why they are never elected and when they are, it takes a Titanic sized load of skankola to do it.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

      Wonder why Romney wasn’t elected???

  • zacapoch

    Remember these people at election time. The GOP as we know it will no longer exist

  • sleeve

    I am starting to wonder if Bonehead is still relying on the Hastert Rule, who was named after one of the biggest loads in US history. It could be enough Republicans are voting to allow bills to get to the floor, and then voting against the actual appropriation, so the teabaggers don’t yell at them, the spineless sacks. If not, they would be swinging from the rafters, screeching about RINOs or the establishment GOP. Since 2/3 of us all know they are sociopathic, phony hypocrites, it is not much of a stretch to think they are schizophrenic as well. I mean Turtle McConnell filibustered his own bill, so who knows what the baboons are doing in there because they sure are not producing much legislation. Where’s the debt limit legislation dead weights?

  • highpckts

    First in line – Texas! No surprise there!!

  • FredAppell

    Don’t worry nob, they’ll get their’s. It’s a great road on the way to the top but it’s a real bitch on the way down.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

    When will the citizens of South Carolina and other states that elected the Tea Party nation destroyers reclaim their intelligence. If you represent a state that opposes aid to disasters nationally I could understand. But don’t vote for disaster aid when it occurs in you state and against it when it happens in another state. You are either american or alien. If you are against the principles that made this country simply leave and replace some of the immigrants that should never have been allowed in this country. If you voted against aid to the Sandy storm you are beneath being a citizen of this country.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

    Gohmert should be tarred, feathered, and sanctioned by congress.

  • july860

    They complain about “pork”; I bet the Katrina aid bill was laden with pork, but it passed!

  • Skeptic1955

    These guys suck

  • awizard2u

    There are 3 political parties in Congress, Democrats, Republicans and the Tea Party. Unfortunately, the Tea Party has taken power from the Republicans and are forcing their extremist, cancerous ideas and values on the citizens of the United States. Beware ! The Tea Party will destroy our great democracy and put in place their distorted views. If you consider what they have tried to do, it should terrify anyone one with a moral compass: eliminate benefits for women, workers union rights gone, no funds for roads, bridges, schools, shut down public services, no more Medicare the list goes on and on. The ONLY people who can and MUST stop them are the same voters who put them in the undeserving positions of power an influence.

  • onedonewong

    More than $20 B of Sandt aid is no non Sandy damage might be the reason

  • srgm

    Does anybody know what pork they are talking about? If, as they say, there’s a lot of frivolous expenditure, why not actually SAY what it is? But, no, it’s easier just to say pork.

  • DukeDacat

    Well now, lets see,

    1. We have 3 Tea Party Idiots from the south, still fighting the Civil War.
    2. The Jackass from California, who is a disgrace to the state.
    and
    3. The Super Idiot, Lying Ryan………..

    What an unholy gang…………..

  • http://www.facebook.com/cookie.pacheco Cookie Pacheco

    The reason Republicans voted to give money to help Katrina victims is simple. Katrina happened when Bush was in office and Sandy happened with President Obama in office. In other words, Republicans are, still, holding the American people hostage. If it were a Republican in office they would have voted to help.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Linda-Sampson-Rotella/1543292125 Linda Sampson Rotella

    So, Florida and Texas, whose land is next to the Gulf of Mexico…voted to repair their boundries..but not to New Jersey and New York…two blue states which receive less than $.70 cents from the Government for each $1.00 given and piece of crap South Carolina that receives
    $1.35 for each dollar they give…and is a parasite and receives “free things” , as the GOP falsely accuses Liberals, from Blue States…
    Slugs….lying hypocrites