Republicans Are Drowning In Their Own Disaster Relief Hypocrisy

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Republicans are drowning a sea of hypocrisy trying to justify their support for tornado relief in Oklahoma after opposing relief for Hurricane Sandy, and big government in general.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor promised to rebuild Oklahoma, “Our hearts break when we see images of the terrible devastation in Oklahoma from last night and this morning. Families torn apart, kids taken from us way to earlier, and communities devastated. As we heard from our Oklahoma colleagues, the people of Oklahoma are strong. The people of our country are strong. We will help them rebuild and do what is necessary as Americans always do. We will continue to focus here in Washington on making sure that does happen and that we address the other challenges that our nation faces.”

After a tornado killed 162 people in Joplin, MO in 2011, Eric Cantor demanded that disaster relief be offset by spending cuts, “if there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental.” In September of the same year, Cantor asked for a 40% cut in the budget for first responders in exchange for diasater relief.

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Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is trying to justify disaster relief for Oklahoma after he voted against aid for Hurricane Sandy, “That was totally different.. everybody was getting in and exploiting the tragedy taking place. That won’t happen in Oklahoma.” What Sen. Inhofe didn’t was that Republicans refused to vote for the bill unless it was loaded up with goodies for their home states.

This strain of Republican hypocrisy isn’t limited to just the federal level.

Last weekend, Gov. Bobby Jindal blamed big government for the Obama scandals, “When you grow government this big, these kinds of scandals are inevitable, and (President Obama) bears the responsibility for that.” However, when tropical storm Isaac struck his state, Jindal wanted the federal government to pay for everything. According to The Times-Picayune, “President Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration authorizing FEMA to supplement the state and local response to Tropical Storm Isaac Monday, a move that Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized as “very limited.” Though Jindal called on the federal government to shoulder the full cost of the federal, state and local efforts, he did not publicly make the same criticisms when former President George W. Bush issued a similar declaration that included a cost ceiling as Hurricane Gustav approached the state.”

Rick Perry, who openly talked about secession, is the king of the anti-big government/pro-federal disaster relief for his state Republicans. Perry took federal funds to combat the swine flu in 2009, after wildfires ravaged his state in 2011, and again after a fertilizer plant explosion leveled the town of West, TX in 2013.

Believing in a limited role for the federal government is a perfect valid position, but that view soon comes into conflict with the reality of a disaster. (The two Republican senators from Oklahoma are still calling for offset cuts before disaster relief is issued, but they are not the norm.) Anti-government Republicans always try to have it both ways when it becomes obvious that states and localities aren’t equipped to handle major disasters.

Disaster relief never used to be a political issue. Everyone agreed that when something bad happened to our fellow citizens it was the government’s role to help. When Republicans decided to politicize disaster relief, they were destined to get caught in their own trap. Conservatives who don’t support disaster relief until they need it are hypocrites, and this is one of the great hypocrisies that is drowning the Republican Party.


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