Sandy Scam

[nutinbutdust]

Wonder why they Hurricane Sandy relief bill is stalled? Obama Sandy Aid Bill (http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/little_help_here_1kW6aQ8fElj4CKwbheEV0N)
Congress wrote up Hurricane Sandy Relief legislation and then Harry Reid's Senate loaded it with pork. It has ballooned into a 94 page emergency spending bill. The Senate amended 60.4 billion bill contains:

$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
$41 million to fix up eight military bases along the storm’s path, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba;
$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.
$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.

[Soonerjeepman]

good grief...seriously, why can't they just spend to actually help the people...why is it so frickin hard?

[FaninAma]

good grief...seriously, why can't they just spend to actually help the people...why is it so frickin hard?


Because that would require some acountability.

[SicEmBaylor]

good grief...seriously, why can't they just spend to actually help the people...why is it so frickin hard?

They shouldn't even be doing that.

[cleller]

The government's purpose is to spend money (after it takes from others, or borrows it from children or the yet to be born).
When the government spends money it is doing it to make the world better for everyone, because they spend more efficiently than private businesses, or the people who originally had the money.

[Soonerjeepman]

They shouldn't even be doing that.

agree...but that will NEVER happen...just like cutting the deficit.

[SoonerProphet]

Don't tell Pete King!

[soonercruiser]

So, where's the NASCAR $$???
I wanna turn left!
(NOT!)

[StoopTroup]

I was watching the House Members last night as they begged the Speaker to stop from calling it a night. Most of the Reps were bi-partisan and many weren't from affected areas. They were asking for a discussion on the bill and were willing to make the needed cuts to get the real victims the aide.

There is no doubt we have seen plenty of pork in many bills.....but I think there was been plenty of time to bring the aide up for discussion of cuts.

What is a scam is trying to say that the House Members were trying to push this bill through without cutting things like you mentioned above from the bill. Lots of those things get attached to get the Reps to vote yes. Anyone with a brain knows this. I don't like it either but...we can have a discussion about term limits for Reps if you want. Calling this a scam? You just haven't been following this bill. It's got all that stuff on it because the GOP wouldn't even discuss any changes. They took the approach that they didn't care what was in it....they just wanted the House to make cuts in other areas to pay for it.

If it's a scam....it's a scam to kill the bill.

This really sets a bad precedent in future negotiations/compromises in House votes for Emergency Funds for Natural and man-made Disaster Relief.

I also feel bad for Gov. Christie. You are basically saying he's asking for relief for the people in his State and trying to scam America? It would seem more like you are trying to make him pay for thanking the POTUS for his help back at the end of October and the beginning of November.

That's how long this supposed Scam has been going on. Seriously...they have avoided any talks of cuts by saying it's not an emergency....which is BS.

[okie52]

Senate rejects Coburn amendments to pare back Sandy bill costs
By Pete Kasperowicz - 12/28/12 12:40 PM ET

The Senate on Friday rejected two amendments from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), which Coburn argued would help reduce spending in a Hurricane Sandy supplemental bill.

In a 44-51 vote, the Senate killed language that would have had the Army Corps of Engineers pay for 65 percent of projects relating to mitigation of future flood risks. The bill being considered by the Senate would have the Army Corps pay 90 percent of these costs.
"All this does is restore it back to what we've had traditionally," Coburn said just before the vote. "[P]rojects that shouldn't get funded won't get funded when we have this kind of ratio."


But Democrats and others opposed it as language that would make it harder for states to pay for disaster-related cleanup efforts.

"This amendment, if passed, would not allow the Sandy states or future states to protect themselves against the future disasters," Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said before the vote.

The Senate also voted 35-60 against Coburn's proposal to strip the bill of disaster funding for fisheries located 50 miles outside disaster areas.

Additionally, the Senate voted 40-55 against Coburn's language requiring an update of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Per-Capita Damage Indicator, a tool it uses to assess whether a disaster should be declared.

Coburn argues that FEMA's failure to update this indicator for inflation for the last several years could make it harder to declare disaster areas in more populated states.

The Senate took a break for caucus lunches immediately after the Coburn votes, and was expected to resume work at 2 p.m. on more amendments to the bill, H.R. 1.


Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/274773-senate-rejects-coburn-amendments-to-pare-back-sandy-bill-costs#ixzz2Gvr4rZn5

.

[badger]

I'm fine with some of these. I bolded em:




$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
$41 million to fix up eight military bases along the storm’s path, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba;
$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.
$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.

But yeah, a lot of pork.

[okie52]

I'm fine with some of these. I bolded em:



But yeah, a lot of pork.

$150,000,000 for fisheries in Alaska??????

28 billion on the last 2 items? I don't know if they are really pork but that is half of the money being requested.

[nutinbutdust]

I was watching the House Members last night as they begged the Speaker to stop from calling it a night. Most of the Reps were bi-partisan and many weren't from affected areas. They were asking for a discussion on the bill and were willing to make the needed cuts to get the real victims the aide.

There is no doubt we have seen plenty of pork in many bills.....but I think there was been plenty of time to bring the aide up for discussion of cuts.

What is a scam is trying to say that the House Members were trying to push this bill through without cutting things like you mentioned above from the bill. Lots of those things get attached to get the Reps to vote yes. Anyone with a brain knows this. I don't like it either but...we can have a discussion about term limits for Reps if you want. Calling this a scam? You just haven't been following this bill. It's got all that stuff on it because the GOP wouldn't even discuss any changes. They took the approach that they didn't care what was in it....they just wanted the House to make cuts in other areas to pay for it.

If it's a scam....it's a scam to kill the bill.

This really sets a bad precedent in future negotiations/compromises in House votes for Emergency Funds for Natural and man-made Disaster Relief.

I also feel bad for Gov. Christie. You are basically saying he's asking for relief for the people in his State and trying to scam America? It would seem more like you are trying to make him pay for thanking the POTUS for his help back at the end of October and the beginning of November.

That's how long this supposed Scam has been going on. Seriously...they have avoided any talks of cuts by saying it's not an emergency....which is BS.

I think it is a scam because the people from the affected areas asked for 9 billion. The senate gets ahold of the bill and it is suddenly 60 billion. It wouldnt surprise me if both parties didnt stick their fingers in the cookie jar on this one. This example shows what is wrong with politics in this country. I dont think people pay any attention to what is going on, or question what the representatives and senators are doing. I am not against helping the people affected by the storm, but lets not pack the bill with inflate the bill 6x over what is estimated to be needed.

[StoopTroup]

I think it is a scam because the people from the affected areas asked for 9 billion. The senate gets ahold of the bill and it is suddenly 60 billion. It wouldnt surprise me if both parties didnt stick their fingers in the cookie jar on this one. This example shows what is wrong with politics in this country. I dont think people pay any attention to what is going on, or question what the representatives and senators are doing. I am not against helping the people affected by the storm, but lets not pack the bill with inflate the bill 6x over what is estimated to be needed.

I can understand how when you see the number 60 billion without knowing what all the money is earmarked for....that you might feel this way. The thing I'm saying is...The longest any Governor has had to wait for funds was around 30 days. Sandy Victims are at a Historical 60+ days and it looks like it might go to 90+. If this was about people having their fingers in the cookie jar...they have had plenty of time to make adjustments to lower the ask.