Chris Christie: Don't Delay Hurricane Irene Disaster Aid Over Federal Spending Cuts
-- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has reacted angrily to a fight brewing in Washington over whether Hurricane Irene disaster aid may need to be offset by federal spending cuts.
The Republican governor told a news conference Wednesday in the flood-ravaged town of Lincoln Park he doesn't want to hear that offsetting budget cuts have to come before aid is distributed. He says no such discussion was held when help went to Joplin, Mo., where a deadly May tornado damaged 7,500 homes.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate attended the news conference. They promised to support the state in its long-term recovery.
FEMA has less than $800 million in its disaster coffers. U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has said the House will require offsetting spending cuts to pay for aid.
Oh brother...
ing asshole republican governors who talk out of both sides of their ing mouth about having their cake and eating it to and the assholes who elect them. God damn.
It'd be great to see Christie and Cantor fight over this; part of me says Christie would snap that pussy like a twig, but then again he'd most likely get tired and need a break while taking the two steps to lunge at him. Tough call who wins tbh.
In some cases, too much cake, tbh
it didn't happen in the bible belt so we don't give a . Spending cuts first!
No comment from the conservabots?
Sen. Toomey: ‘I Do Agree’ That Hurricane Aid Needs To Be Offset First
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/201...er-aid-offset/
etc, etc. Repugs/tea baggers are committed sadistic sociopaths
Cantor is committing treason by this act. Should be tried and given the appropriate punishment
In the same vein (aka bloodletting)
House Republican Bill Cuts Hurricane Monitoring Funds That Help Save Millions Of Dollars
Hurricane hunters – which are flying into Irene’s eye to feed forecasters vital information about the storm – could face big funding cuts under a budget proposal moving through the U.S. House.
Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida, wrote House Speaker John Boehner on Friday asking for a reversal of proposed cuts to the program under a bill that passed the Appropriations Committee. She said if the cuts go through, it would amount to a 40 percent drop in funding for hurricane hunter flights out of MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. [...]
Hurricane hunter planes fly directly into the storm to measure wind speed, barometric pressure and other data that the National Hurricane Center then uses to formulate its forecasts.
The cuts passed by the Appropriations Committee would take funding for these flights down from $29 million to $17 million, despite the fact that the flights help save a substantial amount of money.
Due to data from the hurricane monitoring flights, forecasts are 30 percent more accurate. Since it costs $1 million per coastal mile for evacuation and preparation when a storm approaches, every mile that is not evacuated yields substantial savings for taxpayers. Estimates put the savings due to monitoring flights at $100-$150 million per storm, far outstripping the $29 million budget dedicated to the hurricane hunters.
“[The] hurricane hunter program is worth its weight in gold,” said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL). “They have gotten such accuracy in prediction, not only the strength of a hurricane but exactly its track. You cut back on those kinds of expenses, and that is really cutting off your nose to spite your face.” “These are very significant cuts. It would be a harmful step backward, just when hurricane predictions are improving,” added Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), who has pledged to propose an amendment restoring the cut funds when the GOP’s appropriations bill comes to the House floor.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/201...nitoring-cuts/
New York Republican threatens to withhold hurricane relief from her own district
Freshman House Republican Nan Hayworth's New York district was one of the hardest hit by Hurricane Irene, but the congresswoman seems to be working against her own interests by holding disaster relief hostage in a effort to slash federal spending, according to a recent report.
"We're facing a natural disaster in the middle of an economic disaster," The Middletown Times Herald-Record quoted Hayworth as saying Wednesday. "Certainly, the challenges we face with the national budget have not changed."
The lawmaker pledged to only vote for additional disaster relief funds if they were offset by cuts to "non-defense discretionary spending."
"Hayworth likened her position to a family skipping vacation if it was overwhelmed by bills," the Times Herald-Record's Adam Bosch noted.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/09/0...e+Raw+Story%29
Wow...
You people still don't get it.
A disaster is out of the ordinary, and we should spend money as needed. The problem is when Washington plans to spend more money than we can afford. If we didn't elect these people, who got us is such a deep hole to begin with, we wouldn't be discussing this. Would we?
"The problem is when Washington plans to spend more money than we can afford."
and the problem is worst with Repugs, where St Ronnie doubled the deficit, and dubya tripled it, by spending on military/wars/starwars, UCA subdidies, tax expenditures/cuts, etc. but you keep voting in the profligate Repugs.
the worst spending problem is that the US sick-care industry is screwing H-A's with exorbitant, protected, hyper-complicated, opaque/secret pricing, so medicare/medicaid/for-profit-insurance goes through the roof. but nobody does anything about it.
"people that got us in such a deep hole"
Cheney goverment and the war in Iraq the US could't afford
"people that got us in such a deep hole"
Cheney goverment and the war in Iraq the US could't afford
By "You people" you mean U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, right?
Yes, if he is part of that.
Now most the cost of course needs to be done by the insurance companies. Maybe I should see who's trying to cook up what type of spending first, but in general, emergency relief shouldn;t be slowed down.
Just no "bailouts." If people are putting in bailout type legislation, then that needs stopped and I would say they are the ones slowing it down.
Are you saying Christie is asking for a bailout?
I don't know to what extent he is asking for aid.
I agree aid should be given, but not to a socialistic degree. It all depends on the specifics. No reasonable request should be delayed.
Now we all differ on what is reasonable and what isn't, but shouldn't we all give at first what is commonly agreed on?
So you think Christie is asking for too much? I'm sure he wouldn't be talking if he's getting what he wants.
Any aid given is socialistic, genius.
“Nobody was asking about offsetting budget cuts in Joplin,” Christie said, referring to the tornado-ravaged town in Missouri town, “and I don’t want to hear about the fact that offsetting budget cuts have to come first before New Jersey citizens are taken care of.”
On Monday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) said that as FEMA funding dwindles, storm aid should be offset with budget cuts. Christie warned against allowing political disputes over spending to slow disaster aid to New Jersey.
“You want to figure out budget cuts, that’s fine,” Christie said. “You’re going to turn it into a fiasco like that debt-limit thing where you’re fighting with each other for eight or nine weeks and you expect the citizens of my state to wait? They’re not gonna wait, and I’m going to fight to make sure that they don’t.”
Who is right, WC? Cantor or Christie?
So you think the Republican congressional position on this is wrong?
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