ON THE EVE OF HURRICANE SANDY: NO Federal Disaster Relief Under President Romney October 29
PRESIDENT ROMNEY TO SHUT DOWN FEMA: No Federal Emergency Management and Disaster Relief in a Romney Presidency.
A major ‘Frankenstorm’ and impending disaster threatens millions of Americans in many states and population dense areas along the eastern seaboard, including my own state of New York and the greater Tri-State area. Sandy threatens ‘catastrophe’ which may impact 60 million. Forecasters have issued ’sharp warnings’ leaving Mayor Bloomberg no choice but to order mass evacuations in low lying areas and shut down of the transit system.
As reported by Reuters:
Tens of millions of East Coast residents scrambled on Sunday to prepare for Hurricane Sandy, which could make landfall as the largest storm to hit the United States, bringing battering winds, flooding and even heavy snow.
The massive storm, which has already killed 66 people in the Caribbean, was headed toward a densely populated region that includes Washington, New York and Boston and its effects could be felt for hundreds of miles, officials warned.
It could be the largest storm to hit the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
New York and other big cities closed their transit systems and schools and ordered residents of low-lying areas to evacuate before a storm surge that could reach as 11 feet.
They warned that power outages could last for days.
In the event of a major national disaster, the federal government often steps in to help. As reported in Slate:
“But that wouldn’t necessarily be the case if Mitt Romney got his way. During a 2011 GOP primary debate he said it was “immoral” for the federal government to be spending money on disaster relief when it should be focused on deficit reduction:
First Romney says: “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better. Instead of thinking, in the federal budget, what we should cut, we should ask the opposite question, what should we keep?”
“Including disaster relief, though?” debate moderator John King asked Romney.
His response:
“We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all.” (Slate, Yglesias, October 28, 2012: Romney’s Wants to Cut FEMA)
ROMNEY: “We cannot afford to do those things” [those things =rebuild America communities after disaster]
On the eve of this historical super storm Mitt Romney has assured us that under a Romney Presidency, Americans can basically drop dead when it comes to Federal Management & Disaster Relief; FEMA will no longer exist. Election day is November 6th and this should give people of reasonable minds one more reason to pause when it comes to even considering embrace of The Romney Con of America.
Hurricane Sandy is ‘already setting records’ and it has not even set down or struck in earnest yet. According to the NY Times: ‘Panicked evacuations mix with nonchalance in Hurricane Sandy’s path.’ WNYC and NY Times have posted the evacuation zones, illustrating clearly the risk of the impending storm to my fellow New Yorkers. ‘President Obama has a plan for Hurricane Sandy.’ Romney’s plan is that you are on your own because he will ‘get rid of it.’
But his position makes absolutely no sense. Local infrastructure can often be more efficiently and quickly restored after a major national disaster, by a collaborative effort. As stated by Matthew Yglesias in Slate:
“If a storm damages basic physical infrastructure (power lines, bridges) and imperils human life it would be the height of penny-wise, pound-foolish thinking to suppose that the afflicted area should wait months or years to repair the damage. Ultimately, anyplace is going to go back to robust wealth creation faster if basic stuff gets fixed up faster. But that requires financing by an entity capable of rapidly financing expensive projects—i.e., the federal government. Left to its own devices a storm-ravaged Delaware or Louisiana is going to be squeezed between balanced budget rules and falling sales tax receipts and be forced into an increasing state of dilapidation.”
Romney Position is Immoral, Irresponsible & Not Patriotic
Romney Revealed – Family, Faith and the Road to Power aired tonight on CNN. What many Americans will wake up tomorrow is still unknown, but the Great White Hope powers on full steam ahead without regard to the import of the things he says to the American people. Some of us won’t simply vote for Mitt Romney simply because he is a white man, a CEO or a Billionaire. Yes, I said ‘Billionaire’ with a capital B. Nor will we even vote for him simply because a Meat Loaf makes the pitch for him. The Federal Government’s involvement in emergency and disaster relief measures is not what is immoral. What is immoral is Romney’s call to privatize the security of Americans in the event of a national disaster.
LINKS
Emergency Management
-FEMA: Ready
-NYC.Gov
-NY Times: NY/Region
-NY 1: Sandy Approaches
-NPR
-NBC New York
-CNN U.S.: Hurricane Sandy
-NY Times: U.S. Satellite Plans Falter, Imperiling Data on Storms
Mitt Romney: Will End Federal Emergency Management & Disaster Relief
-Think Progress: Mitt Romney: Federal Disaster Relief For Tornado And Flood Victims Is ‘Immoral,’ ‘Makes No Sense At All’
-Politics USA: Remember When Mitt Romney Called Disaster Relief Immoral and Wanted to Privatize It?
-America Blog: Romney stands by pledge to shut down FEMA
-SLATE: Romney’s FEMA Cuts
-Daily Beast (David Frum): Romney & FEMA: Read Between the Lines