The pictures and video from Kentucky and surrounding states after last week’s tornadoes are shocking. Our neighbors need our help.
Congress should move quickly to provide it. As it does so, we should all take a close look at who has supported emergency aid in the past, and who hasn’t, and why.
It will take billions to help victims recover from the storms. Normally, Washington would respond by passing what’s called a supplemental appropriations bill, providing cash for states affected by the disasters.
Cleanup is just a part of it. Rebuilding homes and businesses, and infrastructure, will take years and lots of money.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul understands this. “The governor … has requested federal assistance this morning,” he wrote President Joe Biden Saturday,” and certainly further requests will be coming as the situation is assessed.
“I fully support those requests and ask that you move expeditiously to approve the appropriate resources for our state,” the senator wrote.
Sen. Paul has not always seemed so anxious to help.
In 2017, Paul voted against $36 billion in disaster aid for Puerto Rico and other areas hit by hurricanes. In 2013, he opposed federal help for victims of Superstorm Sandy along the East Coast.
He wasn’t alone. Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Jerry Moran of Kansas voted against the superstorm relief spending, too. So did former Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas. Oh, and Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky opposed the Sandy assistance as well.
They said the Sandy relief bill was stuffed with unrelated spending. They also said the disaster assistance should be paid for with cuts to other federal programs. They did not say what was obvious: Sandy’s damage came in largely Democratic states.
For some Republicans, opposing storm relief in Democratic areas was easy.
But here’s the lesson Sen. Paul and others are learning, again: Disasters have a way of finding every state. If it isn’t tornadoes or floods, it’s ice storms and blizzards. Wildfires and high winds can destroy communities.
Ask the people of Joplin. Or Greensburg, Kansas.
This will become increasingly obvious, and a growing problem, as climate change provokes more intense storms and greater damage. Emergency supplemental spending bills will become a regular part of Washington’s business.
To his credit, Biden hasn’t made an issue of Paul’s votes, or suggested disaster relief be inserted into the Build Back Better proposal. That would be an interesting moment for Kentuckians.
He knows relieving suffering is more important than the casual hypocrisy of a senator. Congress should pass the help without delay.
