Once upon a time, the Republicans seemed to be the more fiscally responsible party or at least that is what they told is and it seemed reasonable. Now they seem to make a lot of noise about being fiscally responsible but clearly they are not.
The latest outrage is their behavior in the government response to SuperStorm Sandy. Because parts of the United States can be badly flooded, we have a National Flood Insurance Program. Property owners can pay a premium and if the property is flooded, they can file a claim, and collect insurance money to repair damages.
The problem is the National Flood Insurance Program is a federal program and there wasn’t enough money in it to pay all the claims. So it was a case of pay your premium and hope the claim is processed before the National Flood Insurance Program runs our of money. And it did run out of money quickly.
So several weeks back, the Senate passed a bill which adds this money plus more more. Because the bill has provisions that do not directly address Sandy relief, the House refuses to vote on it and the bill dies in the last Congress.
But House members probably don’t want to seem like total jerks so they introduce a bill in the new Congress which will authorize more funds to pay flood insurance claims. The good news is that is was passed by an overwhelming majority. Even more good news is that it will probably quickly pass the Senate and be signed into law by the President.
The bad news is that is does not address any problems other that adding money to the National Flood Insurance Program. The other bad news is that 67 Republicans from the House of Representatives voted against this bill. You may see the previous link for the full list of names.
A good number of us have homeowner insurance , renter insurance, car insurance, or life insurance and we know how this idea works. These Republicans apparently believe it is OK to take premiums for an insurance program without paying the promised benefits when they are needed.
Fiscally irresponsible, untrustworthy, or both?