After S.C. floods, Lindsey Graham reverses course on disaster aid

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/after-sc-floods-lindsey-graham-reverses-course-disaster-aid?cid=sm_fb_maddow

By Steve Benen
Oct. 6, 2015

When Congress considered federal disaster assistance in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) voted against it. The right-wing lawmaker said at the time he didn’t “think Arkansas needs to bail out the Northeast.” Two years later, when it was his state that was hammered by flooding, Cotton reversed course, requesting and receiving emergency aid.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also voted against the Sandy-relief bill, though three years later, the Republican senator fought for federal funding for Texas in the wake of flooding.

Today, they have some company.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) “is asking for federal aid for his home state of South Carolina as it battles raging floods, but he voted to oppose similar help for New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2013,” CNN reports.

Said Graham: “Let’s just get through this thing, and whatever it costs, it costs.”


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Indeed, a total of 36 Senate Republicans – including each of the GOP senators running for president (Graham, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul) – all voted against the disaster-relief package.

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