WASHINGTON - Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma wants disaster-relief aid for victims of Monday’s tornado in his state to be covered by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget, a stance drawing little support from fellow lawmakers.
“He believes we should help disaster victims by directing aid from less vital areas of the budget,” John Hart, an aide to the Republican senator, said in an e-mail Tuesday.
Such a demand by some House Republicans delayed federal relief for two months after super storm Sandy devastated parts of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut on Oct. 29 and killed more than 100 people. Federal disaster aid typically is passed as emergency funding that isn’t offset by reductions in other federal spending.
“I don’t think disasters of this type should be offset” by other budget cuts, House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., said Tuesday. “We have an obligation to help these people.”
Sen. John McCain, a critic of wasteful government spending, said Congress should approve disaster aid without any strings attached if budget offsets aren’t possible.
“I respect Senator Coburn’s view,” said McCain, R-Ariz. “It’s laudable and I would support such a thing, but if we can’t, the important thing is to get assistance to these people as soon as possible.”
Coburn, re-elected in 2010, has said he won’t run again for the Senate.
Skepticism from Republicans about the aid package for super storm Sandy victims led House Speaker John Boehner to cancel a scheduled vote on it Jan. 1. That led to a chorus of criticism from Democrats and Republicans from the region.New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called his fellow Republicans in Congress “know-nothings” and blamed Boehner for the delay.
Congress passed the first installment of federal aid for Sandy victims Jan. 4. Coburn and Oklahoma’s other Republican senator, Jim Inhofe, voted no when Congress completed the $60.2 billion Sandy aid package on Jan. 28.
Coburn “has had the same position on disaster aid offsets since the Oklahoma City bombing” in 1995, Hart said in the e-mail.
The Oklahoma senator “will not change his longstanding position,” Hart said later in an e-mailed statement. He said Coburn has opposed prior disaster-aid bills because he believes such funding shouldn’t be used to pay for a “wish-list of parochial or backlogged priorities that have nothing to do with helping victims.”
“We don’t know if an emergency aid package will even be necessary” for the Oklahoma storm, Hart said. He said Coburn was traveling to Oklahoma to assess the damage.
Hart said the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund contains $11.6 billion.
Boehner said Tuesday, “We will work with the administration to make sure they have the resources they need to help the people of Oklahoma.”
The speaker, an Ohio Republican, cut off questioning at a news conference when reporters pressed him about any Republican demands to offset new emergency funds with spending cuts. He repeated his statement that Congress would work with the administration to help storm victims.
Three members of Oklahoma’s all-Republican House delegation, Tom Cole, Frank Lucas, James Lankford voted Jan. 4 to temporarily raise government’s flood-insurance borrowing authority to allow continued payment of property-damage claims by superstorm Sandy victims. Two other Oklahoma Republicans, freshmen Markwayne Mullin and Jim Bridenstine, voted against that legislation.
On Jan. 15, Lankford joined Bridenstine and Mullin in voting against a $60.2 billion aid package for Sandy victims that was supported by Cole and Lucas.
Opposing disaster aid or demanding other budget cuts to pay for it “may be interesting in principle when it comes to someone else’s disaster,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
In “your backyard you are facing the families and businesses and all the tragedies associated with it, so it’s a little different case,” Durbin said. He said disaster aid shouldn’tbe subject to offsetting budget cuts though Congress should do its best to “lessen the impact on the deficit.”
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said it was premature to discuss whether FEMA needs additional money to help tornado victims.
“You have to look at their pipeline. I don’t know what their cash position is right now,” Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, said in an interview. House Republicans “said a prayer” for victims at their weekly conference Tuesday, he said.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Barbara Mikulski said that if supplemental funding is needed, she will be ready to prepare a measure.
“Right now we are just doing an inventory of needs,” Mikulski, D-Md., said in an interview. She said she opposes making budget cuts to pay for disaster aid.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 05/22/2013