The GOP and disaster funding
Eight California Republicans voted against Sandy aid. It’s not clear what they’ll do about Harvey.
The Trump administration is expected to ask Congress for billions of dollars to address the disaster caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas. But after congressional Republicans’ extremely public fight over an aid package for 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, attention is turning to GOP members who voted against it.
Eight Republicans currently in the California congressional delegation were among the 179 Republicans and one Democrat who voted against that bill.
Most of their offices did not return emails asking how the lawmakers plan to vote on an expected Harvey aid package.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s spokesman, Ken Grubbs, said the Costa Mesa congressman’s vote would depend on what’s in the bill.
“He doesn’t want any boondoggly poison pills,” he said.
It took Congress more than 60 days to approve the $50.5-billion relief package to help Sandy’s victims rebuild in 2013. Republicans who voted against the bill said they opposed it because it was filled with unrelated, nonemergency projects. Others wanted the Sandy relief offset by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.
At the time, Rep. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove said that “a tragedy like Hurricane Sandy shouldn’t be used for a grab-bag of spending.” Several of the Republicans who voted against the Sandy bill represent areas Democrats are targeting in the 2018 election.
All the California Democrats who voted on the Sandy bill were in favor of the aid. Reps. Jackie Speier of Hillsborough and Grace Napolitano of Norwalk did not vote.