NO MONEY FOR RED STATE PARASITES THAT WOULD NOT SUPPORT THEIR FELLOW
AMERICANS IN THEIR TIME OF NEED BECAUSE OF HURRICANE SANDY: Oklahoma
Senators Inhofe, Coburn, Face Difficult Options On Disaster Relief:
Oklahoma currently ranks 3rd in the nation after Texas and California
in terms of total federal disaster and fire declarations:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/oklahoma-senators-disaster-relief_n_3309234.html
christin...@huffingtonpost.com
Oklahoma Senators Jim Inhofe, Tom Coburn, Face Difficult Options On
Disaster Relief
Posted: 05/20/2013 7:50 pm EDT | Updated: 05/21/2013 9:33 am EDT
WASHINGTON -- As frantic rescue missions continued Monday in Oklahoma
following the catastrophic tornadoes that ripped through the state, it
appeared increasingly likely that residents who lost homes and
businesses would turn to the federal government for emergency disaster
aid. That could put the state's two Republican senators in an awkward
position.
Sens. Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn, both Republicans, are fiscal hawks
who have repeatedly voted against funding disaster aid for other parts
of the country. They also have opposed increased funding for the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which administers federal
disaster relief.
Late last year, Inhofe and Coburn both backed a plan to slash disaster
relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. In a December press release,
Coburn complained that the Sandy Relief bill contained "wasteful
spending," and identified a series of items he objected to, including
"$12.9 billion for future disaster mitigation activities and studies."
Coburn spokesman John Hart on Monday evening confirmed that the
senator will seek to ensure that any additional funding for tornado
disaster relief in Oklahoma be offset by cuts to federal spending
elsewhere in the budget. "That's always been his position [to offset
disaster aid]," Hart said. "He supported offsets to the bill funding
the OKC bombing recovery effort." Those offsets were achieved in 1995
by tapping federal funds that had not yet been appropriated.
In 2011, both senators opposed legislation that would have granted
necessary funding for FEMA when the agency was set to run out of
money. Sending the funds to FEMA would have been "unconscionable,"
Coburn said at the time.
Hart said Coburn had "never made parochial calculations" about
Oklahoma's disproportionate share of disaster funds, "as his voting
record and campaign against earmarks demonstrates." Hart added that
Coburn, "makes no apologies for voting against disaster aid bills that
are often poorly conceived and used to finance priorities that have
little to do with disasters."
A representative for Inhofe could not immediately be reached for
comment. Inhofe earlier tweeted: "The devastation in Oklahoma is
heartbreaking. Please join me and #PrayforOklahoma. Spread the word."
Coburn also put out a message on Twitter, writing, "My thoughts and
prayers are with those in Oklahoma affected by the tragic tornado
outbreak."
Oklahoma currently ranks third in the nation after Texas and
California in terms of total federal disaster and fire declarations,
which kickstart the federal emergency relief funding process. Just
last month, President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for
the state following severe snowstorms.
And despite their voting record on disaster aid for other states, both
Coburn and Inhofe appear to sing a different tune when it comes to
such funding for Oklahoma.
In January of 2007, Coburn urged federal officials to speed disaster
relief aid after the state faced a major ice storm.
A year later, in 2008, Inhofe lauded the fact that emergency relief
from the Department of Housing and Urban Development would be given to
24 Oklahoma counties. "The impact of severe weather has been truly
devastating to many Oklahoma communities across the state. I am
pleased that the people whose lives have been affected by disastrous
weather are getting much-needed federal assistance," he said at the
time.
The cost of the recovery effort for this week's tornadoes is likely to
be high. After a spate of tornadoes in the state in 1999, Oklahomans
requested and received $67.8 million in federal relief funds.