Deadly Tornado Batters District of GOP Congressman Who Opposed Sandy Aid

[babylonsister]

Deadly Tornado Batters District of GOP Congressman Who Opposed Sandy Aid

By: Sarah Jones
Jan. 30th, 2013


Update: Due to redistricting, the 7th district has been changed. Adairsville may now be Republican Phil Gingrey’s district, who also voted no on aid to Sandy victims on Jan 15.1

Tornadoes ripped through Adairsville, Georgia (northwest of Atlanta) today, killing at least one person according to authorities and leaving major damage behind. The violent storm forced officials to shut down a 10-mile stretch of I-75.

Watch here via NBC News (@ link)~

Sadly, the Republican Congressman who currently represents that district, Phil Gingrey, voted against Sandy aid as did the Republican who represented that district until recent redistricting, Robert Woodall (GA-7, Adairsville). Woodall is on record as voting against aid for Hurricane Sandy victims. He explained this in a newsletter, writing, “(W)e almost always serve one another better locally than we do with a check from Washington, D.C.”

Woodall’s position when it was another region that was hit was that all aid must be offset by spending cuts:

This week, the House had the tough job of appropriating disaster relief funds to the states affected to the point of devastation by Hurricane Sandy. I absolutely believe we should help our neighbors in their time of need. That said, we almost always serve one another better locally than we do with a check from Washington, D.C. America’s generosity during natural disasters by giving to the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and more, is unmatched. In those rare instances of such widespread devastation that federal aid is required, we must provide that aid by reducing spending on other lower priorities, not by running up the debt burden on future generations. This is why I supported measures to ensure that any emergency funding was fully offset by other spending cuts. These offset measures did not pass the House, unfortunately, and instead, the total package of Sandy relief legislation grew nearly three-fold–from $17 billion to over $60 billion in new deficit spending– and was passed over my objection. You can read the bill, H.R. 152, by clicking here .

I offered to support an across-the-board cut of all federal spending that Georgia receives–a sacrifice for our community–so that we could use the money to help our neighbors in New York and New Jersey. We do make those sacrifices for one another in America, and it makes us better as a nation. Unfortunately, the New York and New Jersey delegations turned that offer down. They wanted all of the $60 billion, and they didn’t want to find a penny of it through spending cuts. That is wrong for America. I am glad that families affected by Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey will get the help that they need, but I am very disappointed with the way it happened. If we can’t come together as a nation to reduce spending in low-priority areas so that we can prioritize families who lost everything after the storm, I have low expectations for those same members of Congress coming together to make the much bigger cuts that we need to make in order to stop the deficits and restore the economy.

Woodall even generously offered to make cuts to Georgia to help Sandy victims. The only problem with that gesture is how could he have know whether or not Georgia would need that money? It never seems to occur to Republicans that those who went before them may have had a reason for decisions they made. It turns out Georgia might need that money now, and more to boot. This is not the first year that tornadoes have damaged Georgia.

Let us hope that both Gingrey and Woodall have a rethink now that it’s their district that might need federal aid. It is obviously too much to ask of certain Republicans that they exercise compassion for others; the most we can hope for is that when disaster hits them, they are bright enough to put two and two together.


more...

http://www.politicususa.com/deadly-tornado-batters-district-gop-congressman-opposed-sandy-aid.html

[get the red out]

1. There's that Karma bitch again

His constituents don't deserve this, but this guy is an ass and deserves to look like one.

[ellie]

3. His constituents should not have voted for him.

I hope they get aid but I hope they see their rep's hypocrisy and vote him out next time around.

[get the red out]

9. Good point!

[annabanana]

4. Will not stoop to their level or injure the innocent. . . . n/t

[grntuscarora]

6. +1.

n/t

[HooptieWagon]

5. I see no reason to vote for aid to his district.

Maybe he'll learn that votes have consequences. Make him personally amend any aid bill to GA to include aid for Sandy victims. Make the SOB get down on his knees and beg.

[annabanana]

7. As a resident who has seen her aid delayed. .

I see a reason.

[babylonsister]

8. I see one reason; I sure don't want 'us' to be like 'them'. We should

always take the high road; we'll always be better than them.

[Doctor_J]

16. But these teabaggers WILL NOT LEARN ANY OTHER WAY

Anyone who has successfully raised children should understand why this man's district MUST be cut off. At the very least whoever he runs against in 2014 will be able to blame the lack of aid on the despicable Congressman, and hopefully dislodge him from office. He has no business being part of the federal government.

[We People]

17. But everyone in Georgia is not a teabagger or a gopper

and elections all throughout the entire state are done and decided electronically. How convenient for Rethug office holders like him.

[Oilwellian]

10. Err, perhaps...

we shouldn't stoop to their level. You know, people before money and all that.

[cascadiance]

15. How about we make sure they get aid, but cut any other government work going on in that district...

... to "pay for it", as their constituency SHOULD want if they are advocating for others to have that limitation by who they are voting for to represent them.

Therefore, if there are other government funding areas that don't affect those directly affected by the disaster, THERE is where we should cut back aid to them "to pay for this aid", so that their voters can get the message of how their congressmen govern, and how they will need to live by those rules, even if they find that it makes their lives more difficult now.

Unfortunately, not having control of the House, it would be hard to craft such legislation to send this message. Rethugs in the House probably will find another way to keep these voters from turning on them.

[Doctor_J]

18. that's silly

this idiot to withhold emergency aid from residents of the NE. Presumably because he believes "Big Government" shouldn't get involved. Well, it's time to pay the piper. he certainly shouldn't want the Big, Bad Government intruding in his district either. This asshole needs to be held responsible for his recent decisions - i.e. be told to piss off.

[sakabatou]

11. Karma's a bitch, isn't it, Woodall?

[Bake]

12. Then I'm sure local efforts to recover will be far superior to spending federal dollars.

Suck on THAT, Gingrey, you pompous right-wing asshat!! Maybe your constituents will get the message, STOP VOTING FOR DICKHEADS LIKE GINGREY!!

I hate to see anyone suffer. But sometimes you've got to get the effing message across.

Bake

[Auntie Bush]

13. When I heard of a possible Tornado in the South...I thought to myself.............

IF a tornado touches down...I hope it's an area that is under ReThug control whom refused money for Sandy victims. But, I thought better of posting that...so now all I'll say is karma is our friend.

[dsc]

14. we should follow the lead of the Congressman

Raise the taxes on the rich enough to pay for the aid to clean up his district. Every single solitary time a disaster strikes a red district we should offer them aid with the offset being taxes on the rich.

[Glitterati]

19. I'm certain this great grandmother agrees with you

Among the injured is 2-year-old Zane McFarland. The boy is recovering Thursday as his 80-year-old great grandmother undergoes surgery for injuries suffered when a tornado destroyed their Gordon County home.

The senior, Betty Stewart, is being hailed as a hero after she covered Zane in a quilt, then shielded his body with her own as the wind swept their home off its foundation and demolished it against two nearby trees.

"She fought a tornado, and she won," said nephew Kenneth Hayes.

Hayes said McFarland’s father was at work in Atlanta while his mother attended school, so Stewart agreed to watch him Wednesday morning. When the tornado approached, Hayes said his aunt grabbed an old family quilt, wrapped up Zane, then laid down on top of him to shield him from harm. They were found several yards away from the wreckage lying along Highway 53. Stewart was still clutching her great grandson.

"She said to Zane, 'I'm not going to let you go,’" said Hayes. "She doesn't remember anything else, except somebody found her in the road. She remembers somebody talking to her when she was out in the middle of the road, and she didn't let go of him."

McFarland suffered a broken femur and underwent surgery at Chattanooga's Erlanger Hospital. He is in a body cast, but his father said he could be released from the hospital as early as Thursday. Stewart's injuries are much more severe.

"She's got a broke back in two places, a broken femur. The skin is gone from one hand down to her elbow. She has bleeding on the brain, cuts all over. She's black and blue all over," said Hayes.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/great-grandmother-shields-toddler-tornado-destroys/nWB5K/

I'm certain this great grandmother agrees with you. I shouldn't NEED this, but given this thread, I'm not certain anymore.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. A lot of his people are cold and terrified today.

Some of them voted for the ass, others voted against him and yet others didn't vote at all.

No matter what I hope he does the right thing by them. No one should have to suffer through a disaster and be worried about what political games their leaders are planning on playing at the same time.