WASHINGTON — Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) fired back Thursday at those who have criticized him for demanding that any disaster aid package for Oklahoma tornado victims include offsets, or matching spending cuts elsewhere in the budget. The money is already available to help his constituents, Coburn argued, suggesting that lawmakers only want to pass an unpaid-for disaster aid package so they can tuck other unrelated items in it to benefit their home states.
“It’s just typical Washington B.S.,” Coburn said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “There’s $11.6 billion sitting in a bank account waiting to help people in Oklahoma … It’s a crass political game because I was being asked these questions before we even pulled the dead people out of the rubble.”
Coburn then went on in the MSNBC interview to suggest that “most of the property damage” from the tornadoes was “insured.” The senator claimed it would “be a 200, 250, maybe 300 million dollar cost to the federal government out of the FEMA fund” and accused Washington of “creating a crisis when none exists so they can advantage themselves.”
The tornado that struck Moore, Okla., this week, killing at least 24, is estimated to have left more than $2 billion of damage in its path.
YEAH! We don’t need HANDOUTS because we had insurance for everything, unlike you leeches who were just hoping you’d get your roofs ripped off so that the federal government would come along and replace them!
A.