Is nothing sacred? In Washington the answer is no.
As the last Congress sought to avoid the “fiscal cliff” and raced toward adjournment, the House refused to vote on a pork-ridden bill sold as aid for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. That triggered a splenetic outburst from Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who complained that the GOP stuck a “knife in the back of New Yorkers and New Jerseyites.”
It was an example of political extortion at its worst. In Washington political fraud rules. The $60 billion bill did not live up to its sales pitch. Much of it had nothing to do with helping hurricane victims. Complained Jon Fleischman of the Flash Report: “You would not believe how many billions of dollars in pork barrel spending has been stuffed into this legislation by appropriators in the upper chamber.”
For instance, $17 billion was for “Community Development Block Grants,” boondoggle spending that usually benefits political activists rather than average citizens. Alaska fishermen several thousand miles away from Hurricane Sandy would have gotten $150 million. There was $8 million for cars and equipment for the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice.
The Veterans Administration would collect $207 million for its Manhattan Medical Center. There was $2 million to repair a roof at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and $58.8 million for private forest restoration. Almost $11 billion was targeted for future public transportation construction and maintenance.
Another $41 million would go for work at eight military bases as far away as Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. And $4 million for repairs at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. The connection of all these projects to Hurricane Sandy was not immediately obvious.
If Rep. King and other northeastern legislators had simply wanted disaster relief money, they could have had it. If the bill had focused on disaster relief. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Ca.) observed: “They had the opportunity to have a $27-to $30-billion legit relief package, packed it with pork, then dared us not to vote on it.”
An unnamed GOP aide made the reasonable point that “we need to know more about the contents of the [second] bill before deciding on a path forward.” A short delay was the least Congress could do for taxpayers.
The new House immediately passed $9.7 billion in extra money for the bankrupt federal flood insurance program. A vote is expected mid-month on the rest of the package. Reported the New York Times: “The overall measure would provide money to help homeowners and small-business owners rebuild; to repair bridges, tunnels and transportation systems; to reimburse local governments for overtime costs of police, fire and other emergency services; and to replenish shorelines. It also would finance an assortment of longer-term projects that would help the regions prepare for future storms.”
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