GOP didn’t want to pass an aid bill during Superstorm Sandy? Bull!

GOP didn’t want to pass an aid bill during Superstorm Sandy? Bull!

Naturally, a day can’t go by without the Left politicizing something. A hurricane? Perfect! Not only can liberals point to yet more indisputable proof of global warming, but a hurricane gives them a chance to resuscitate the  phony claim that the voted against the Superstorm Sandy Relief bill.

This canard, being pushed by the mainstream media as part of its coverage of Hurricane Harvey, omits an important detail: The relief package that Republicans rejected was laden with billions of dollars of non-Sandy related pork. It was that that the GOP gave a thumbs-down to, not to providing aid to victims of the disaster.

Nevertheless, on Sunday evening, The Hill tweeted out:

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

The Sandy relief bill originated in the Democratically controlled Senate and never went through the committee process.

According to a December 2012 report by the New York Post (whose coverage area was severely pounded by Sandy), the pork-laden relief bill included:

  • $8+ million to buy cars and equipment for the Homeland Security and Justice departments
  • $150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to dole out to fisheries in Alaska
  • $2 million for the Smithsonian Institution to repair museum roofs in DC
  • $13 billion would go to “mitigation” projects to prepare for future storms.
  • $207 million for the VA Manhattan Medical Center
  • $4 million for repairs at Kennedy Space Center in Florida
  • $3.3 million for the Plum Island Animal Disease Center
  • $1.1 million to repair national cemeteries.

A Freedom Work’s Analysis added some pork the post missed:

  • $58.8 million for forest restoration on private land.
  • $197 million “to … protect coastal ecosystems and habitat impacted by Hurricane Sandy”
  • $10.78 billion for public transportation, most of which is allocated to future construction and improvements, not disaster relief
  • $17 billion for wasteful Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), a program that has become notorious for its use as a backdoor earmark program.

The Heritage Foundation found:

  • $200 million for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be used freely at the discretion of the Secretary.

In other words, Harry Reid thought he could snooker the Republicans to pass a bill so full of pork the Congress could have opened its own sausage factory.

The bloated bill ended up passing, primarily because of Democratic votes.

It’s no secret in D.C. that Democrats care about the budget only when there is a Republican in the White House.

Cross posted at The Lid

Jeff Dunetz

Jeff Dunetz

Jeff Dunetz is editor and publisher of the The Lid, and a weekly political columnist for the Jewish Star and TruthRevolt. He has also contributed to Breitbart.com, HotAir, and PJ Media’s Tattler.

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