The Sandy Relief Bill: A Sham, Wrapped In A Disappointment, Inside A Travesty

Flopping Aces ^ | 01-10-13 | Michael Henkins

[Starman417]

My apologies to the late Sir Winston Churchill, minter of the the original words “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” speaking of the now defunct Soviet Union. This is the only way I can describe what I feel the upcoming Sandy Relief bill has become. One would think, after the disaster left in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, that elected officials from both parties would show some respect for citizens who have suffered the hurricanes destruction. That would be far beyond a reasonable expectation it now appears.

Neil Cavuto, of Fox News, recently interviewed New York City Republican Councilman Daniel Halloran, concerning the relief bill being hijacked by congressmen and woman of both parties. The councilman briefly laid out the problem:

“Of the $60 billion allocated for supposedly the emergency relief and hurricane bill, you're talking about roughly $24 billion of which has absolutely nothing to do with hurricane relief. It is going to projects like the Alaska fisheries. It is going to projects like Amtrak subsidies, at the tune of almost $330 million. These are things that have nothing to do with any of the hurricane damage and more importantly are adding on to the national deficit at a time everyone claims they want to deal with it.”

The Sham:

The original estimate , which was considered to be conservative in scope, was that New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut would require 80 billion dollars in state and local spending for infrastructure repair and victim relief. The congress agreed to fund 60 billion dollars according to Councilman Daniel Halloran. Of that 60 billion dollars congress wants to take 24 billion to fund projects unrelated to the disaster to get the necessary votes needed to pass both House and Senate on January 15th.

The Disappointment:

If there were any doubts as to the waning trust citizens have towards our elected officials in Washington D.C., this should erase them.

(excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...

[subterfuge]

Elected officials of “both parties” are responsible for the pork. In the bill that obama, pelosi and Reid rammed down the throats of the hapless Republicans. yeah, sure...it’s everyone’s fault.