One Democrat takes heat over Sandy “relief” funding
January 21, 2013 at 5:55 pm in News by Tea Party Patriots 5 Comments
Wednesday evening, Tennessee Blue Dog Democrat Jim Cooper – one of the few fiscally moderate Democrats left in the House after the 2010 elections – was interviewed by Nashville Scene about his vote against Sandy relief funding. Cooper, the only Democrat to vote against the full package (he voted for the flood insurance and the original $17 billion on Tuesday), defended his vote as fiscally necessary:
Pith: Why did you vote against the bill?
Cooper: The bill wasn’t paid for. In fact, it wasn’t even partially paid for. Congress really made no effort to pay for even a fracture of it, so it added $50 billion to the deficit. I did support last week $9 billion, free and clear, I did support in this legislation $20-plus billion free and clear, but the extra $30 billion really should have been at least partly paid for. This is consistent with my past votes on deficits and on disaster relief. You should read the Washington Post editorial today. It’s excellent, pointing out how Congress regularly fails to handle our emergency responsibilities.
In 2010, Cooper voted for disaster relief when Nashville, Tennessee was in trouble. The Scene’s reporter asked him about that as well:
You mentioned past disaster relief. Obviously Tennessee was at the receiving end of some federal help after the flood a couple of years ago…
Exactly, and those bills were at least partially paid for. Congress made an effort. This is a new level of congressional irresponsibility here. You know, I hate voting with the Republicans, but Congress has to do the right thing for the country.
In an update, the reporter published Cooper’s statement on the whole matter:
“I have great compassion for the victims of the Sandy disaster, which is why I voted ‘yes’ on the first $9.7 billion bill that passed earlier this month.
“Congress should make at least some effort to pay for a portion of disaster relief. I voted for federal aid for Nashville flood recovery in 2010, and that bill was partially paid for. So were the Hurricane Katrina bills I supported. And Hurricane Rita, and Hurricane Wilma, and Hurricane Ivan, and Hurricane Isabel. Why can’t we find even partial offsets for Sandy?”
“Yesterday’s votes came during a national budget crisis while America is officially out of money.”
Rep. Cooper’s vote has drawn calls for a primary challenge, including by this Daily Kos writer. Rep. Cooper has long been a thorn in the side of big-spenders, including opposing the Clinton health care plan in the 1990s and voting against the stimulus. For those who care about the fiscal future of America, Rep. Cooper’s vote should draw some praise. First and foremost, the Congressman voted against the pork-filled larger bill. Second, he supported an amendment offsetting some costs with cuts elsewhere in the budget. Lastly, he is publicly admitting the government is out of money, something the Tea Party has been proclaiming for years.
Of course, no Congressman is perfect, and Rep. Cooper showed his partisanship when he said he hates voting with Republicans. This is a shame because when it comes to lawmaking and spending taxpayer money, Members of Congress should only hate voting for what is bad for America. Party affiliation should take a back seat to the American people.
In the end, Rep. Cooper took a politically brave stand. While voting for fiscal sanity should not be considered “brave,” it’s certainly that way in the Republican Party, and even more so in the Democratic Party. Let’s encourage more legislators on both sides to vote for our country’s future.
i would have voted against it too it had spending in there that do not need to be there
It had things that had nothing to do with state insurance federal insurance and personal homeowners insurance and money for other causes and I would have voted against it too. Democrats run NY and Nanny bloomberg isnt a republican. Democrats run NJ and it has a Rhino head. If you arent getting your money bark up those trees.
The reason why it is hard for democrats to vote with Republicans, these days, is because of all the social conservative issues that get added to most all Republics legislation… It is one thing to vote for fiscally conservative legislation but it’s another to vote socially conservative.
To reconstruct the infrastructure to functional level is imperative. Without that recovery is very slow, the causeways into New Orleans after Katrina made that very clear.
To use a natural disaster to effect purchase of loyalties is a time honored tradition of those who wish to be demagogues. We have a lot of them wearing the Democrat tag and to many wearing the R as well.
Gang rape is democracy in action.
I assure you Democrats are in control of money already in place fo sandy relief in new york and New Jersey. Things like state insurance and fed insurance that was paid for while buying the house.If you are’nt geting these funds its local not federal or Federal agency not congress because these funds were paid in by homeowners already. Early on in the aftermath cleanup orders with threats of fines were left at residents homes in NJ. this kind of intrusion is to make sure the resident doesnt accept their insurance and move. It is a freedom restricter not help. Help was offered during sandy by a non union lineman outfit and was run off like they werent needed. These kind of actions assure Unions get all the work rebuilding but also it is restricted by the stupidity that the unions have been using as a bat against non union competition. They have to wait out the red tape from their buddies the regulaters the permiters the osha planners ect. Rebuilding will be more about the workers getting jobs than whethr the residents have homes or are able to afford to rebuild.
I called an office in NJ to tell them they could use school busses for temporary shelters since they will burn less fuel at idle the diesel ones could run for days and they carry great heaters that work off the engine. The high output alternaters can handle charging phones and computers and could have been deployed I think I called the day or two after. I gave the idea this same way to the gov. office who transfered me to the trans. office who transfered me to thebus yard and the person there asked me what I wanted him to do about it.
I ask you now is this what you will get in response to the next event. nothing when the temperatures are freezing. I never got the Governer or really anyone I think had a clue what to do with the info. I hope your area or school plans better for the unthinkable and ugly than I think most do.