As the gentle reader is assuredly aware of, one of the GOP’s latest faux outrages is claiming that FEMA ran out of money and couldn’t help victims of the Hurricane Helene. And, as is their wont, they escalated this faux outrage to the point of demanding hearings. Well, Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) was not in the mood for their bullshit and came in and rocked the room:
This oversight committee voted against the bill to keep FEMA funded and nine are in states that were directly hit. I don’t understand why we come in and pretend that we have all these issues with your agency, and I thank you for your service, when you don’t want to fund it. You can’t complain about these issues and when we’re talking about, you know, the people that got skipped over maybe or maybe not, ultimately there was a concern about safety. Now hopefully we will get the full investigation, but we know that it was Trump that was out there himself. He was putting out disinformation and misinformation to the extent that y’all had to set up an entire website to try to combat it. That was in disservice to all Americans because when a hurricane hits it doesn’t go into the democratic areas. It doesn’t go to the independents. It doesn’t go to the Republicans. It goes to American citizens. It is time for us to decide that we are going to work together and make sure that we can take care of people regardless of the decisions that they decide to make on who they want to put into the White House and I thank you for your service and I yield.
Whether she knows it or not, Crockett just laid out a major part of the standard modus operandi of the GOP. They love to set up a public agency by underfunding it and understaffing it. Then when said agency comes up short, they scream that government doesn’t work. The only thing missing from this particular scenario is the private agency owned by a big campaign funder or one of the Republicans themselves that claims they can do the cost. Then it suddenly becomes exponentially more expensive as they line the pockets of the private agency owner. Something like Orange Felon Paper Towel Distribution Agency or some such nonsense. Then when the private agency fails, because all the money went to the owner’s bottom line, it ends up being years of nothing getting done other than a lot of finger-pointing.
Having been a public sector worker in a previous life, I have seen it happen more times than I care to count.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) on Republicans bringing FEMA to the House Oversight Committee:
“This Oversight Committee voted against the bill to keep FEMA funded … I don’t get understand why we come in and pretend we have all these issues with your agency … when you don’t want… pic.twitter.com/KA5bBWGDhr
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) November 19, 2024
