The Politics of Sandy Relief
Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 1:43 pm
Corpulent Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey has spent much of the past few days throwing red meat to his liberal constituents in the form of loud and vituperative criticism of House Speaker John Boehner and his fellow Republicans in the House.
It seems Christie was “promised” a (positive) vote on a $60 Billion Dollar disaster relief bill by the end of the year, and Boehner reneged on that promise. Boehner was personally responsible for delaying the vote, and had the power to do so by virtue of his position. He has assured the vested parties that the vote will be held by mid-January.
But note that FEMA itself has provided assurances that funding is in place for everything that needs to be done before the end of March, so the urgency was entirely contrived. Christie displays, among other things, the “New Yorkers” infamous need to GET WHAT THEY WANT WHEN THEY WANT IT(!). (NOTE: to people outside the region, everyone living with 100 miles of Manhattan is a “New Yorker”).
As George Will has sagely observed, there are no better examples of true bi-partisanship than when Congress acts quickly to do something stupid in the face of a perceived crisis. For example, TSA.
Christie might have observed that the Speaker had bigger fish to fry than responding to the petulant demands of the Tri-State whiners ("I called the speaker four times. He did not take my calls.” BWAAAAAAAAAA!). And given the fact that there was and is no urgency requiring IMMEDIATE congressional action, he might have noted that this $60 billion bill is loaded with pork, as well as reimbursement of citizens’ personal losses and costs that no rational analyst would conclude are the financial obligation of the federal taxpayers (“…money to fix my roof…”). Fuck your roof; fix it yourself. That’s what private insurance is for.
Christie claims that the decision to defer the vote for a couple of weeks was “purely political,” but this is absurd. The easier choice for Boehner was clearly to hold the vote, nurse it to passage, and mollify the deficit hawks in his own party by pointing to the wailing and gnashing of teeth in the East. No, it is reasonable to assume that Boehner wanted the House to catch its figurative breath after fucking around with the Fiscal Cliff for the past month, and actually look at what was in this hideous bill. And it is logical to assume that Christie DOESN’T WANT Congress to look any closer at the bill, for fear that much of it will be jettisoned for the unrelated (to Sandy) or inappropriate garbage that it is.
He may have made a few points for his re-election prospects, but he pretty much made as ass of himself in all of this.
It seems Christie was “promised” a (positive) vote on a $60 Billion Dollar disaster relief bill by the end of the year, and Boehner reneged on that promise. Boehner was personally responsible for delaying the vote, and had the power to do so by virtue of his position. He has assured the vested parties that the vote will be held by mid-January.
But note that FEMA itself has provided assurances that funding is in place for everything that needs to be done before the end of March, so the urgency was entirely contrived. Christie displays, among other things, the “New Yorkers” infamous need to GET WHAT THEY WANT WHEN THEY WANT IT(!). (NOTE: to people outside the region, everyone living with 100 miles of Manhattan is a “New Yorker”).
As George Will has sagely observed, there are no better examples of true bi-partisanship than when Congress acts quickly to do something stupid in the face of a perceived crisis. For example, TSA.
Christie might have observed that the Speaker had bigger fish to fry than responding to the petulant demands of the Tri-State whiners ("I called the speaker four times. He did not take my calls.” BWAAAAAAAAAA!). And given the fact that there was and is no urgency requiring IMMEDIATE congressional action, he might have noted that this $60 billion bill is loaded with pork, as well as reimbursement of citizens’ personal losses and costs that no rational analyst would conclude are the financial obligation of the federal taxpayers (“…money to fix my roof…”). Fuck your roof; fix it yourself. That’s what private insurance is for.
Christie claims that the decision to defer the vote for a couple of weeks was “purely political,” but this is absurd. The easier choice for Boehner was clearly to hold the vote, nurse it to passage, and mollify the deficit hawks in his own party by pointing to the wailing and gnashing of teeth in the East. No, it is reasonable to assume that Boehner wanted the House to catch its figurative breath after fucking around with the Fiscal Cliff for the past month, and actually look at what was in this hideous bill. And it is logical to assume that Christie DOESN’T WANT Congress to look any closer at the bill, for fear that much of it will be jettisoned for the unrelated (to Sandy) or inappropriate garbage that it is.
He may have made a few points for his re-election prospects, but he pretty much made as ass of himself in all of this.