I can only hope that their constituents remember this, with disapproval, and both pressure them while they are in office, and run them out on a rail in 2014. It is the kindest comeuppance they deserve; unfortunately not much else is available to us in retribution for this deplorable conduct.
Hey, that's the problem with MurKKKin polity.
ReplyDeleteThe democrats vote in lockstep while the reptilicans allow for the hate-filled members of their delegation to vote whichever way their small hate-filled hearts tell them to.
Did you read Mr. Ryan's statement ?
ReplyDeleteMr. Ryan attempts to distort the legislation by including reference to helping the victims of SuperStormSandy with the need to increase the borrowing authority of the National Flood Insurance Program.
Yet, his vote would be correct when you consider that increasing the amount that the NFIP can borrow from the US Treasury is irrelevant when the US Treasury has reached its debt ceiling ... the US Treasury debt limit should be raised to allow for the increase in NFIP borrowing (and remember this legislation only raises NFIP by $9.7 Billion when the program needs $20 Billion.)
Mr. Ryan complains about the NFIP program is in "desperate need of reform ... yeah, that's true ... but Mr. Ryan fails to remind his constituents that he voted along with a strong majority House by a vote of 406-22 to reform the program (which President Obama signed into law) ... but as fast as Congress reforms the system, Mother Nature is moving faster. In 2011 alone, there were 58 Federal flood disaster declarations, covering 33 different states, costing over $8 billion and causing 113 deaths. Both the costs and the number of deaths exceeded the 30–year averages.
All Mr. Ryan and his fellow Republicans did was to lay a marker that they will vote against raising the debt ceiling.
That stated, at least Mr. Ryan took a "national interest" tone as opposed to Congressman Tom Petri who explained his no vote on the 2011 NFIP reform in terms of how it affects his home state :
While H.R. 1309 includes a number of prudent reforms, the NFIP is a government-based insurance program mired in an $18 billion debt to the U.S. Treasury. Additionally, the NFIP provides a better return for natural disaster-prone states than it does for Wisconsin. For these reasons, I voted in opposition to H.R. 1309.
At least one Wisconsin Republican is honest.