Seriously? If our elected officials will fight over whether to fund disaster relief, is there anything that won’t fall prey to partisanship? Sure, the disaster over disaster funding was averted this week and the government won’t be shut down at the end of the week. Bully for those compromisers.
Why now, oh budget-offsetting fans, should Americans, whose lives, homes, businesses and towns have been turned inside out by natural disasters, have their federal relief come only via offsets? Seriously?
Was there a cutoff point that many of us missed? Disaster funds were to be available for Hurricane Katrina and every disaster forward through the fatal tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri, this year, but now, in autumn, those funds should be tied to budget offsets?
Really? Why? What’s the rationale? Are those struck by disasters now somehow less worthy than those who received the absolute support of what our government can and should do when a natural disaster strikes? Who gets to decide which disaster gets gold-plated relief and which one gets relief provided by budgetary offsets?
Was it not enough that partisanship pushed the federal government to the edge of a shutdown in April and almost into default in August—while resulting in a cut to the nation’s AAA credit rating? Now we can’t get past party politics to take of those with immediate and serious needs? Our credit rating is one thing, but our street cred is taking a hit here and abroad on this.
Is it really necessary to play politics with help for people who have lost homes and lives? We are a republic, a unity of states with one federal government to provide exactly the type of assistance that disaster relief does.
We are ill-served by these people who continue to put party before people.
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