Democrats and the establishment media have made it clear that FEMA has all the money it needs, and FEMA's response to Hurricane Helen has been He blames the failure on Republicans who opposed the lame-duck spending bill.
Kamala Harris' campaign has been at the forefront of criticizing Republicans for voting against a September funding bill that included spending for FEMA, even as hundreds of billions of dollars were spent on additional projects across the federal government. Republicans see much of it as wasteful, woke, and contributing. The country's poor economy.
That September bill passed easily, and FEMA administrators made it clear that funding was not their responsibility, no matter what the initial response to Helen was judged to be. “I have the funding and sufficient resources to support the continued response to Hurricane Helen and Hurricane Milton,” said FEMA Administrator. Deanne Criswell said reporters on Wednesday.
That didn't stop Harris from campaigning. politicize disaster. The campaign account is Posted X has a list with the misleading title “Republicans who voted against FEMA funding,” including Republicans who voted against the September CR, hinted that they were not interested in disaster relief.
Republicans opposed the bill for a variety of reasons, most notably its funding of left-wing freebie bags.
The bill included tens of billions of dollars in research funding. grant From scientific institutions to universities, we work to address equity, DEI, gender-affirming care, and combating racism in research fields such as geoscience and engineering.
The bill's funding also includes billions in grants to nonprofit organizations that enable undocumented immigrants by providing social services, transportation around the country, and connections to employment. Conservatives also argue that the infrastructure plan funded by the bill would unfairly fund urban transit in Democratic strongholds, providing subsidies for “road diets” and bike lanes that cause congestion for drivers, and They also point out that they are funding electric buses that destroy roads.
Conservatives also point to the Energy Department and EPA's Green New Deal initiative, which was funded by a huge bill, and funding for arts and entertainment, such as Washington's lavish Kennedy Center, a popular spot for lawmakers. are.
It's not just domestic spending. Conservatives also oppose the bill's robust foreign aid package, much of which goes to promoting left-wing nonprofits that spread left-wing social agendas abroad.
Many Republicans also opposed the timing of the extension on principle.
Most concerningly, the continuing resolution would leave the government in a lame-duck session after the November elections, before the start of a new Congress (where majorities in the House and Senate are likely to change), and before a new president takes office. Funding will be expanded.
Congress is expected to pass a large omnibus spending bill during this time. Opponents of the September CR argue that extending the bill until December allows Democrats to avoid voter oversight and pass the bill after the election but before voters have made their recent government choices.
Republicans had used the end-September funding deadline as leverage to push for concessions from Democrats, but Democrats, along with some Republicans who have enjoyed directing big government policies throughout their careers, are holding out until the lame-duck session. He was satisfied with enforcing his decisions.
Among others, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) wanted a six-month CR combined with the SAVE Act, a bill that would ban non-citizens from voting. . The bill will be in place until mid-March, giving the new Congress and administration an opportunity to choose spending levels and policy priorities. Other Republicans advocated combining a six-month CR with a border security bill, like HR2 passed by the House.
In the end, the efforts failed to pass the House and are all but certain to fail in the Senate, where Democrats hold a majority and Republicans tend to avoid stirring up trouble. And the three-month CR supported by Democrats and the Biden administration has expired.
Republicans who voted against the three-month CR were willing to stay in Washington and continue negotiations. But in an election year, most members of Congress, including Republicans, made it a priority to return to their districts and campaign, regardless of the contents of the bloated spending bill.
FEMA has long been a bipartisan target of Congress, which has accused it of mishandling multiple disasters, including Hurricane Katrina. The agency has also come under fire in recent years for using funds to justify humanitarian aid and support illegal immigrants.
These criticisms will continue.
FEMA's response to Helen will likely last many years and cost billions of dollars, and the time will come to evaluate both FEMA's full efforts and Congress' response and oversight. But if Democrats and the media's criticism of the agency's early failures was aimed at Republicans, expect that same political finger to be pointed in that direction for the foreseeable future.
Bradley Jay is Breitbart News' Capitol Hill correspondent. Follow him on X/Twitter. @BradleyAJay.
