Senate Democrats Tie Romney Gulf Coast Visit to Ryan’s Proposed Cuts to Disaster Relief
Source: firedoglake
The only real notable element of Mitt Romneys post-convention performance today was that he accidentally referred to the United States as a company, i.e. a person. But in anticipation of his visit to the Gulf Coast for some photo-ops with victims of Hurricane Isaac, Senate Democrats are using unusual vigor to hold House Republicans, mainly Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan, accountable for the near-denial of disaster relief funds that will be put to use in the aftermath of the storm.
The story goes back to the debt limit deal. That set a spending cap for future budgets with a hard-dollar number. However, it allowed for some flexibility for disaster relief, where the federal government could go above the cap. But even after agreeing to the deal, House Republicans, led by Ryan, wanted to block that, which would have forced unpredictable disaster relief funding to get offsets in the federal budget. This really came to a head last fall, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency nearly depleted its budget before the year was out, which would have forced a supplemental funding bill. The Office of Management and Budget somehow found enough funds to carry through the end of the year, and Republicans reluctantly went along with the flexible cap for disaster relief. But some, including Ryan, did not:
"It had been a different story earlier in the year as the governments chief disaster fund almost ran dry, thanks to foot-dragging by the White House and demands by tea party House Republicans that disaster aid be partly paid for with cuts to programs that Obama favored. The administration instead let the political pressure build as disaster accounts dwindled, sparking the ire of both his GOP rivals and allies like Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., but turning the tables in its favor.
Months after agreeing to the new regime, Republican leaders still had to turn to procedural maneuvers to orchestrate passage of $8.8 billion in disaster money in keeping with the agreement. Ryan, the House Budget Committees chairman, was among 66 Republicans opposing the measure [...]"
Read more: http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/08/31/senate-democrats-tie-romney-gulf-coast-visit-to-ryans-cuts-to-disaster-relief/
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,001 posts)Romney 6/13/2011: Federal Disaster Relief For Tornado & Flood Victims Is Immoral, Makes No Sense'
From ThinkProgress, 6/14/2011:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/06/14/244973/mitt-romney-federal-disaster-relief-for-tornado-and-flood-victims-is-immoral-makes-no-sense-at-all/
Mitt Romney: Federal Disaster Relief For Tornado And Flood Victims Is Immoral, Makes No Sense At All
Asked about federal disaster relief for recent tornado and flood victims at last nights GOP debate, candidate Mitt Romney called the spending immoral and said the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be privatized. With greenhouse pollution on the rise, the United States has been struck by a punishing series of billion-dollar disasters.
Embracing a radical anti-government ideology from the most extreme elements of the Tea Party, Romney said that the victims in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and other communities hit by tornadoes and flooding should not receive governmental assistance. He argued it is simply immoral for there to be deficit spending that could harm future generations:
Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, thats the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, thats even better. (...) We cannot we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that well all be dead and gone before its paid off. It makes no sense at all.
mountain grammy
(26,620 posts)will share the TP article on facebook!
alp227
(32,021 posts)wordpix
(18,652 posts)So here is Rmoney's philosophy: take from the fed gov. and send the money back to corporations. Perfect!
Reverse Robin Hood, wish I had photoshop on my laptop
wordpix
(18,652 posts)cut to FEMA workers helping out people who lost their power/homes/food/water
tooeyeten
(1,074 posts)Only care about Adelson and the Kochs.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,001 posts)avebury
(10,952 posts)Iliyah
(25,111 posts)against disaster relief. For crying out loud do these motherf***** have any effing morals or conscious.