I pit the 67 Republicans who voted against Hurricane Sandy relief

The BBQ Pit
1

In an effort to better characterize themselves as comic book villains, 67 House Republicans voted against a bill that would pay out flood insurance claims to victims of Hurricane Sandy. The claimants had purchased insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program, so the government was obligated to pay these claims once it had the money for them.

This vote was only for the $9 billion to pay the insurance claims.

The scumbags who voted against this included representatives from Florida, Mississippi, and other states who have been ravaged by hurricanes and subsequently asked for federal money and aid. A perfect example of “fuck you, I got mine”.

I have trouble fathoming the mindset that would lead to this. Either they didn’t read the bill, or they automatically vote against any “evil government spending” that doesn’t affect their district. They are either lazy and careless, lack basic empathy, or attempting to sacrifice people’s livelihoods to make political points.

And here’s a handy list of those representatives for your ire:

[spoiler]Mo Brooks, AL 5th
Tom Cotton, AR 4th
Paul Gosar, AZ 4th
Matt Salmon, AZ 5th
David Schweitzert, AZ 6th
Trent Franks, AZ 8th
Tom McClintock, CA 4th
Ed Royce, CA 39th
Doug Lamborn, CO 5th
Ted Yoho, FL 3rd
Ron Desantis, FL 6th
Tom Price, GA 6th
Rob Woodall, GA 7th
Dough Collins, GA 9th
Paul Broun, GA 10th
Tom Graves, GA 14th
Randy Hultgren, IL 14th
Marlin Stutzmen, IN 3rd
Todd Rokita, IN 4th
Tim Huelskam, KA 1st
Lynn Jenkins, KA 2nd
Kevin Yoder, KA 3rd
Mike Pompeo, KA 4th
<spoiler />
Thomas Massie, KY 4th
Andy Barr, KY 6th
John Fleming, LA 4th
Andy Harris, MA 1st
Dan Benishek, MI 1st
Justin Amash, MI 3rd
Kerry Bentivolio, MI 11th
Sam Graves, MO 6th
Steven Palazzo, MS 4th
Steve Danes, MT
Virginia Foxx, NC 5th
Richard Hudson, NC 8th
Mark Meadows, NC 11th
George Holding, NC 13th
Steve Pearce, NM 2nd
Steve Chabot, OH 1st
Brad Wenstrup, OH 2nd
Jim Jordan, OH 4th
Jim Bridenstine, OK 1st
Markwayne Mullin, OK 2nd
Scott Perry, PA 4th
Keith Rothfus, PA 12th
Joe Wilson, SC 2nd
Jeff Duncan, SC 3rd
Trey Gowdy, SC 4th
Mick Mulvaney, SC 5th
Phil Roe, TN 1st
John Duncan, TN 2nd
Scott DesJarlais, TN 4th
Marsha Blackburn, TN 7th
Stephen Flincher, TN 8th
Louis Gohmert, TX 1st
Michael Conaway, TX 11th
Mac Thornberry, TX 13th
Randy Weber, TX 14th
Bill Flores, TX 17th
Randy Neugebauer, TX 19th
Kenny Marchant, TX 24th
Roger Williams, TX 25th
Bob Goodlatte, VA 6th
Paul Ryan, WI 1st
James Sensenbrenner, WI 5th
Tom Petri, WI 6th
Sean Duffy, WI 7th

source
[/spoiler]

2

I haven’t paid attention, but I guess the question is, was this bill just Sandy relief, or was it a Christmas tree with gifts showered on all sorts of non-Sandy recipients? If the first, then I share your disgust. If the second, then I think they may have a point.

3

This was a vote to add on the $9 billion for flood insurance claims to a larger spending bill.

4

[QUOTE=House Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.)]

[it would be] “irresponsible to raise an insolvent program’s debt ceiling without making the necessary reforms.”
[/QUOTE]

Other threads mention the dangers of comparing government and household budgets, but there should be no problem since we simplify down to Ryan’s intellectual level, so here’s my analogy:

It would be as if Ryan refused to pay his bar tab because it was “irresponsible” to waste his whiskey budget the evening before.

5

I await breathlessly for Christie’s response to these knuckleheads.

6

It’s been a long time since there was a Republican whose name made me grin.

7

Honestly, how does a conservative defend themselves against this?

If they actually had the intention of stopping this then that means they’re ok with americans dying.

If they’re just putting up a front it’s just goddamn stupid.

I can’t think of a reasonable explanation.

8

See, there’s your problem.
You have to think unreasonable.

9

Why drag ALL conservatives into this. Just limit it to the 67.

10

IIRC, they were all against the first bills and the others had to be arm-twisted into voting for it. So, yeah, I can live with “all conservatives on the Hill.”

11

Because those are their leaders. They voted for them. If it wasn’t such an ongoing problem it probably wouldn’t be a big deal. In fact, it would be a big deal if they actually did the decent thing for once. But they don’t. They never do. Standard protocol. The worst thing is, the people who voted for them, are fucking clueless. So it’s necessary to be over-the-top and point out how fucking stupid these people are.

12

Wow, I can get not following the news on this - but you didn’t even bother to read the first two paragraphs of the OP. Impressive.

13

I think we now have the explanation for what these 67 Republicans were thinking when they voted.

14

The bill described by the OP is not inherently immune to Christmas-treeing. Indeed, a must-pass bill is often an excellent vehicle for such, precisely because it is a must-pass.

15

From TMFOP:

16

Can you cite any parts of the bill that do this?

17

The Christmas-treeing *was *done to that other big $60-billion bill whose back-burnering made Chris Christie issue a verbal bitchslap of Boehner & Co. over New Year’s Eve. This one AFAWK was merely about paying up the 2-month-old flood insurance claims.

18

Probably the same set against raising the debt ceiling in order to pay the government’s bills. I have a proposal - sell the debt to the Mafia, and then have some enforcers pay these clowns a visit to give them a message about living up to their obligations.

19

It’s nice to get all outraged and shit, but in the long run, the Republicans did the right thing.

HR 41
A bill to temporarily increase the borrowing authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for carrying out the National Flood Insurance Program.

Note the term “increase the borrowing authority”. We as a nation cannot afford to take on any more debt, no matter how noble the cause may be.

20

So the people pay their premiums and get fucked over, not by the usual insurance companies but by their own government.
How very corporate. How very Republican. How revolting.