Associated Press
Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.)
Though it took far longer than it should have, Congress approved $9.7 billion on Friday for the National Flood Insurance Program, giving a boost to victims of Hurricane Sandy. In all, only 67 lawmakers opposed the relief, and in this case, all 67 were Republicans, who opposed the spending under pressure from far-right lobbying groups like the Club for Growth.
Of the 67 opponents of the bill, failed vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was easily the highest-profile member of the bunch, but TPM flagged another lawmaker whose vote against the emergency aid was even more striking.
Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS), whose Mississippi district is situated on the Gulf Coast, was one of 67 Republicans on Friday to vote against a $9.7 billion relief package to victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Mississippi's Fourth Congressional District, which Palazzo has represented since 2011, includes the city of Biloxi, one of the most heavily damaged communities in the region by Hurricane Katrina. Congress quickly passed an initial $10.5 billion relief package in the immediate aftermath of Katrina in September of 2005.
Making matters slightly worse, Palazzo, about four months ago, stressed the importance of federal disaster relief for his district in the wake of Hurricane Isaac.
"Some of the counties in the fourth congressional district have been the hardest hit by Isaac," Palazzo said in late August. "This determination comes as good news to our local communities who are dealing with the effects of the storm. We cannot thank the governor's office and FEMA enough for their continued support."
Hmm. It sounds an awful lot like the Mississippi congressman loves federal disaster relief, but only if it directly benefits Mississippi.
Asked for an explanation, the Republican's office issued a statement.
"Congressman Palazzo fully supports a Sandy relief package that includes spending offsets. On the heels of a fiscal cliff deal that added $4 trillion to our existing $16 trillion national debt, we must ensure that disaster relief is paid for. He also hopes we will be able to have a much-needed national discussion on disaster relief reform in the coming days."
First, mandating "offsets" in the wake of a natural disaster is a new development, that didn't apply when it was Palazzo's district that was slammed. Second, the bipartisan fiscal agreement does not "add $4 trillion" to the debt.
And third, it's interesting how "disaster relief reform" is needed when New Jersey is hit, but not when it was Mississippi that needed a hand.
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Hey Richard Kovacevich play your taxes you corrupt bum. You get paid a huge amount of money a year for your literal bull crap that has been worthless by your warmonger friends. So now pay for what you have caused in this world with your worthless and lying friends. All you bums have ever caused for people is slavery, abuse, misery, despair, and death with your lies and deceptions. There is a message for those worthless deadbeat CEO’s go to hell.
I like it, I like it a lot!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kovacevich
Yep RichMJpnnes thanks for totally confirming that Richard Kovacevich is really a blood sucking leech with his own selfish interests. Do anything to make huge profits, but at the same time do not pay any livable wages to people in the Banking Industry. In other words, have your workers do more work and reduce their wages at the same time. Who cares about the workers, they always got 50 cent boxes of Mac and cheese to eat and cardboard boxes make great blankets and pillows, especially in other countries where wages are even worse you can do this even better. Go to hell Richard Kovacevich.
Fine they want to stand on "Principal" let them. Those states can decide whether or not they want to contribute to FEMA and if they don't fine then they can stand against nature alone.
I am so tempted to agree with you but, you knew that was coming, the state of Miss. has a large hostage population and this loon is not their fault.
How can anyone stand on principle when they have no principles. We need to save the money for corporate welfare and tax credits for the rich and famous.
Worms , famously , cannot stand very well .
@afairhope: And don't forget the few millions that go into their own pockets. Mitch McConnel, for example, has been making literally millions each year since 2008. What is he doing to increase his personal wealth so dramatically?
http://www.campaignmoney.org/sites/default/files/Cashing_In_On_Obstruction.pdf
These Republicans are totally shameless in the face of their own lies!!
"These Republicans are totally shameless in the face of their own lies!!"
They're also hypocrites, pimping themselves for the 2%, and traitors to the 98%! But it seems not to bother them or the low information voters that put them into office - we just have have to work harder to get them out of office, permanently!
Is the dear Congressman daft or just cruelly selfish? Why is he in "public service" other than to muck things up for the people's business!
To turn away from American citizens in their time of need is the antithesis of how a representative should respond if indeed he dares call himself a Congressman!
Palazzo should resign immediately for being too cockamamie for Congress! -Kevo
He has a kid named Bear Palazzo? Man, this guy is confused on so many levels. Take a look at where he stands on critical issues:
http://house.ontheissues.org/House/Steven_Palazzo.htm
Is it really all that surprising that Republicans only support disaster relief in red states and are willing to let the blue states suffer? Disgusting and inhumane, yes; surprising, no.
All Politics Is Local.
end of story.
STOP STEALING OUR LINES! http://www.bluejersey.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=22243
(OK, so it's a normal line, and different, and it's not really theft since you don't read Blue Jersey, but, still ...)
This is typical of the baggers. They have retirement, health insurance, and disposable income. Why should they care that they plan to deny the same to the peons. The 'I've got mine' party needs to fade away quickly.
Voting against the bill is inhuman. I live in Maryland. We had some damage here. But, what happened to New York and New Jersey is heartbreaking. People lost their lives.
One of our reps, Andy Harris, voted against. Needless to say, he is getting a lot of negative press right now. And, his talking points... right out of the typical BS that is heard from these American terrorists.
People lost lives ...
The Tee Pee and no time for making sense in a hurry , core pillar of the Republican Party , will be upset about that .
Yeah right ...
Andy Harris is my rep, too. I used to reply to his talking-point email, if you can call it replying. You had to go to the website and fill out a form. The text box would resize to super small when you placed the curser in it. And the form results would not have breaks or paragraphs, making the reply difficult to read. It was pretty clear that Dr. Harris was discouraging rather than encouraging replies. I was hopeful that he would be voted out, but he wasn't.
Meanwhile, people from FEMA came around with fliers for "DISASTER ASSISTANCE for Maryland homeowners, renters and business owners in Somerset county [sic] who where affected by Hurricane Sandy from October 28 thru November 4, 2012". But only those 65 or older are eligible for grants. The rest can apply for low-income loans which further stress already tight budgets.
Maybe things will be different now that the bill was passed, but in my opinion the church groups that came in to help with clean up provided more "disaster assistance" than FEMA will ever do.
I worked on Katrina / Rita cleanup in that toad's district. His people were screaming that they didn't get relief as fast as the should. Maybe somebody should publish his vote in Biloxi or Bay St. Louis and let them know that if he is successful they can count on squat from anybody the next time there is a big blow.
And to think Frank Luntz approved his talking points.
I wonder what they'll think... there's not much left in Bay St, Louis and the high water mark that was left along the freeway (I 10) has been rubbed out by the city's leaders. Seems they thought people wouldn't rebuild if they knew they would be underwater even on stilts!
Ron Byers, as a Gulf Coast resident I can tell you that I personally have deep feelings of gratitude for you and folks like you who came here after Katrina and helped us rebuild. Rep. Palazzo does DOES NOT represent me nor does he represent most of the people in his district that were affected by Katrina and remember how badly we needed the aid.
Unfortunately, there are enough uninformed rubes far enough from the coast that do not care about disaster relief so he'll probably be reelected.
What boggles my mind is Palazzo and people like him never stop to consider that Mississippi takes in far more in federal tax dollars than we send to Washington D.C. while New Jersey takes in far less than they pay out.
I hate to admit he is my congressman. I dislike him and his TEA Party. He is the only Mississippi House member to have voted against the aid package. Just after Hurricane Isaac, he was on WLOX telling people to make sure they keep their receipts to show FEMA!!!
Does'nt every senator and congressman pledge allegiance to the United States of America? Or do they pledge it to The Club for Growth or perhaps Grover Norquist.
Typical.
It figures they issued a statement rather than held an interview about it. Not that there are many reporters that would call them out on it, but had this been at a press conference, it could have been asked "Exactly how does the fiscal cliff deal add $4 trillion to our national debt?" and if they answered that making the tax cuts permanent for taxable incomes below $400,000 was the reason the follow up could have been "So you're saying that the Bush tax cuts added trillions to the national debt?" I don't know if they would respond to that last question, but it would have been nice to see them try to squirm out of it, and if that is their reasoning, then once again we have a republican trying to have it both ways (not surprising, I know).
Maybe the Tee Pee Party means never having to say ,"I am wrong" .
It is the opinion of the general household here that these worthies should experience love . Hurrah .
The suggestion that they start kissing random toads , has the rare benefit of opening Boehner up to something beyond another slug of Victory Gin , and the employment of right wing lips in the pursuit of something less horrible than what generally issues from the lips of the Republican Party .
Our junior congressman, Keith Rothfus, also voted against Sandy relief as his first vote in Congress. He's on track to be a two year congressman.
And every Kansas rep. voted against the Sandy Relief bill.
Tornado season begins there in April.
The next gulf coast storm will be interesting to see what happens
Hypocrites