Disaster Aid Bill Could Be a Disaster for All Taxpayers

While the impending doom of the fiscal cliff looms larger and larger and most of the country’s attention is focused on the fiscal cliff, Congress is preparing a disaster relief bill for the storm that hit the Northeast in October.  As the Senate considers the emergency spending bill to cover Super Storm Sandy’s costs, it should make sure the components of this legislation don’t wreak as much havoc on taxpayers’ pocketbooks as Sandy did on their shore lines and communities.  Unfortunately from the looks of the legislation in its proposed form, taxpayers appear to be getting the short end of the stick.

A New York Post headline says it all: “Obama Sandy aid bill filled with holiday goodies unrelated to storm damage.” Setting aside the argument over how much the federal government should – if at all – be involved in disaster relief efforts, it is reasonable to highlight potential spending line items that are included in the bill.  Congress should be determined to limit the spending in this bill to only the most important, legitimate needs.  What constitutes “important, legitimate needs,” is a worthwhile discussion.  A good way to start it is by looking at what components of the $60.4 billion package are not of dire necessity.  Congress should do its best to mitigate some of the worst examples of pork in a piece of legislation intended to help families, as opposed to creating even more bills for them to pay.

Not only does Congress need to get to work to take out some of the superfluous spending it included in the Sandy legislation, it also needs to take out President Obama’s wish list as opposed to adding more onto his list.  As The Washington Times reported, “Mr. Obama asked for $32 million to repair part of the Amtrak rail system not covered by insurance, but the Senate multiplied that request more than tenfold, to $336 million, with the extra money going to cover Amtrak’s operating losses and to increase train capacity into New York City…”  The aid package for storm victims also includes “$150 million for ‘fishery disasters,’ which means money could flow to Mississippi’s blue crab and oyster industries, and to Alaska, where one senator said Chinook salmon have suffered.”

As laughable as the proposed $150 million to be spent on Alaskan Chinooks may seem, Alaskan Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) actually released a statement about its necessity.  In his statement, he explained “These much-needed funds will help make communities whole and hopefully help fund research on factors affecting Chinook returns.”  This is an insult to all people suffering from Sandy’s destruction.

The piece in the NY Post provides more details about the proposed Sandy relief bill under consideration in Congress.  The Post reports, “The pork-barrel feast includes more than $8 million to buy cars and equipment for the Homeland Security and Justice Departments… and $2 million for the Smithsonian Institution to repair museum roofs in DC.  An eye-popping $13 billion would go to ‘mitigation’ projects to prepare for future storms. Other big-ticket items in the bill include $207 million for the VA Manhattan Medical Center; $41 million to fix up eight military bases along the storm’s path, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; $4 million for repairs at Kennedy Space Center in Florida; $3.3 million for the Plum Island Animal Disease Center and $1.1 million to repair national cemeteries.”

It’s infuriating to think that some in Congress and the administration would seize on the opportunity of a disaster-relief effort in order to increase spending for their pet project or agency.

If Congress is determined to spend the money one way or another, they could at least make sure it ends up in the general geographical region of where the disaster struck or provide offsetting spending cuts.  Not only does the proposed Sandy-relief bill currently spread the wealth across the nation, some in Congress are hoping to ramrod the legislation through as quickly as possible.  Some fear this tactic is being used so that no one will know exactly what’s in it until after Congress has passed it. This logic should prompt a déjà vu moment that then-Speaker Pelosi stated about Obamacare, “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.”

And now we’re seeing how well that tactic worked for taxpayers when it comes to the amount of outrageous tax increases in Obamacare. While the Sandy-relief bill doesn’t include tax increases (that is at least the parts we’ve seen do not), the vague nature of the language and purposes of funding leave the door open for much fraud, cronyism and abuse.

The families and communities who suffered through and endured Sandy earlier this year are far too tough to put up with this wasteful and trite behavior that Congress is currently exhibiting.  The idea of disaster relief is to help alleviate the struggling and hardships so many families and communities have had to endure.  The last thing Congress should be doing is salivating over the ill-effects of this horrendous natural disaster by viewing it as an opportunity to add to an already bloated federal government.