Notes on Harvey: if Karma could bring her litter to visit the Texas GOP
Notes on Harvey: if Karma could bring her litter to visit the Texas GOP
First of all, as many of you already know, the M.I.A. proprietor of Bonddad blog, Hale Stewart, resides in the Houston area. I traded messages with him on Saturday, and as of then, he was doing OK.
Secondly, when Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey and New York, Texas Republicans were prominent among those who opposed aid. Ultimately aid was provided — but not until 75 days after the storm.
There were two Sandy-related aid bills.
The first bill granted FEMA a $9.7 billion increase to borrow for the National Flood Insurance Program. It passed the Senate on a voice vote, but the following Texas GOP Members of Congress voted against the aid:
Mike Conaway (Midland)
Bill Flores (Bryan)
Louie Gohmert (Tyler)
Kenny Marchant (Coppell)
Mac Thornberry (Clarendon)
Randy Weber (Pearland)
Roger Williams (Austin)
The second bill provided $17 billion emergency funding to the victims and to affected NY and NJ communities. Both Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn voted agains the bill. In addition to all of the above Representatives, the following Texas GOPers also voted against this aid:
Ted Poe (Humble)
Sam Johnson (Plano)
John Ratcliffe (Heath)
Jeb Hensarling (Dallas)
Joe Barton (Arlington)
Kevin Brady (The Woodlands)
Michael McCaul (West Lake Hills)
Kay Granger (Fort Worth)
Lamar Smith (San Antonio)
Pete Olson (Sugarland)
Michael Burgess (Lewisville)
Blake Farenthold (Corpus Christi)
John Carter (Round Rock)
Pete Sessions (Dallas)
Now that it is Texas suffering a catastrophe, of course some of these same politicians will be at the front of the line braying for help. While with the GOP in control of the entire federal government, Karma will not be paying a visit with her litter, in a just world aid would be provided immediately — on the same day they all visit NY and NJ, apologize, and abjectly beg forgiveness.
Of course, the “better angels” will prevail this time. But rest assured, the next time a disaster befalls anywhere in the Northeast, these same Texas politicians will once again vote against aid. In the meantime, above is the Roll Call of Shame for posterity.
” . . . above is the Roll Call of Shame for posterity.”
Since all of them are shameless, what’s the point?
I’m more interested in what Texas is going to do to prevent this kind of devastation to their residents when the next Hurricane comes ashore there…. since we know (and they know) there will be many more.
If the probabilities are greater then insurance prices go up for flood, wind and water damage… but how many people damaged by this one had that level of insurance?
Since Texas voters are so dead-set against federalism and overwhelmingly favor States Rights autonomy, let them deal with their own problem…. maybe they’ll get the whole idea of federalism as an advantage rather than a liability.
Any hope of minimizing the damage caused by hurricanes and tropical storms along the US coast has been reversed just recently by the orange – haired president with his signing an executive order rolling back Obama’s Federal Flood Risk Management Standards put in place.
Much of the money sent to Texas to rebuild infrastructure will be wasted as it will be spent building it in the same manner as before without the additional safe guards pushed by Obama. Trump’s reversal of the edit has been called the “‘the biggest step backwards that has ever been taken in flood management policy’ and said the move will waste untold amounts of taxpayer money, harm the environment, and cost lives.”
The new regulations were put in place by executive order and took into consideration of the impact of hurricanes Sandy and Katrina. Something as simple as building one to three feet above the 100 hundred year flood level was a part of President Obama’s order. All of this to erase the legacy of a Black President.
Run,
I’d add only that in addition to your conclusion:
“All of this to erase the legacy of a Black President.”
the following”
At least. And to the degree possible any Federal control over the states. Getting the U.S. back to the Articles of Confederation seems like an apparent objective to “Make America Great Again”..
Reintroduce State based Apartheid laws (Jim Crow); decimate the federal EPA and it’s regulations; cut federal tax revenues to minimize federal money available to do anything (other than defense spending of course); back-track on the Judiciary’s constrictive interpretations since forever (like commerce clause interpretations, Civil Rights interpretaitons; etc.
This is classic libertarianism in the flesh and in your face. , .