How come some states vote against other states in getting natural disaster emergency funds ?

9 comments

1. Sometimes the aid is tied into a spending bill they don’t like. Sometimes they’re dicks.

2. Either they don’t want the government to provide relief to people at all, they think their tax dollars are already redistributed to the state in question enough, or they have some bone to pick over being passed over for getting a military base or energy subsidy or whatever. Theoretically, it could also be an example of “this state says it doesn’t believe in handouts and should practice what it preaches,” but that would be far too easy to spin as heartless and hypocritical itself, so most states that *could* do that don’t

3. Selfishness.

4. Sometimes complex spending policy, mostly simple vindictive culture politics.

5. The same reason so many people hate lawyers until they need one.

6. States don’t vote against emergency funds. Some representatives from some states might vote against it but it’s just a political sideshow.

7. Spending packages are easier to get through the process than other forms of legislation. As a result, budget bills often feature a lot of extra stuff that is….let’s just say questionable as simply a budget item.

   As a result, often there’s WAY more in the bill than just the relief budget and they’re voting against some other aspect of it, but explaining that is neither sensational nor easy to fit in a headline so the coverage looks weird.

   There are also times when they just disagree with that level of federal spending or think enough has already been done, whatever but pork fat (a term for tacking extra things into a bill) and party politics are a lot of it.

8. Is your question [indirectly saying](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question) “Republicans are hypocrites because they voted against Hurricane Sandy relief funds but now want money for their state”? In particular, is this directed at DeSantis?

   Yes, dozens and dozens of Republicans in Congress (including DeSantis when he was a House member) voted against the bill *that was advertised as* a “Hurricane Sandy relief” bill, ostensibly because it contained unrelated spending on multiple unrelated things such as fish hatcheries on the other side of the country. [It’s been argued](https://archive.is/tzIXs) (consider the source, though) that ultimately all of the disputed items actually were relevant to disaster relief in general and thus DeSantis is a poopyhead.

   I agreed with the principle of their “no” votes against the bill as named, but in a realpolitik sense it should have been voted yes; I don’t think it’s hypocrisy. Overall I think it’s disingenuous to claim “states vote against other states in getting natural disaster emergency funds.”

9. The state doesn’t vote. The representatives of the state vote. Usually it is because one party doesn’t want to support a state that is run by a member of the opposite party, but as others have said relief is often added to bills with lots of spending on controversial issues.

   One time years ago flood relief for farmers was added to a bill that Republicans knew Clinton would veto, so they could then accuse him of not supporting farmers. Politicians can be children.