Rep. Bentivolio Explains vote on Sandy Funding!

[Spoa]

Thank you Congressman Bentivolio!

Last Friday I voted against HR41, which was a bill to temporarily increase the borrowing authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency by $9.7 billion for carrying out the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

I was sent to Congress to shrink the size of government and decrease our national spending. The NFIP is already $18 billion in debt. The commitments made to the victims of Hurricane Sandy should be fulfilled without expanding this flawed program with unconditional taxpayer bailouts. Congress was unwilling to find cuts in our $3.7 trillion of annual spending to offset the cost of this bill. The bill passed 354-67. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

 

[Feeding the Abscess]

Thank you Congressman Bentivolio!

He can use this as a form letter for just about everything, including military spending. It'd be nice if he does that.

 

[Darguth]

Looks like he's definitely trying to go the route of Amash, as he promised. I dunno if we'll get all the explanations of procedural votes like Amash does, but we'll see. In any case, I like it. Representatives should explain themselves to The People.

 

[FSP-Rebel]

 

[Darguth]

Here are the Congressman's recorded votes for H.R. 152 - Sandy Relief Bill Amendments, as reported on GovTrack.

YEA Votes:

H.AMDT.4: (Failed) An amendment printed in Part B of House Report 113-1 to provide an offset of the $17 billion in emergency funding to address immediate needs for victims and communities affected by Hurricane Sandy. The offset is achieved by an across the board cut of 1.63 percent to all discretionary appropriations for fiscal year 2013.

H.AMDT.6: (Passed) An amendment numbered 2 printed in Part C of House Report 113-1 to strike $150,000,000 for Regional Ocean Partnership grants.

H.AMDT.8 (Failed) An amendment numbered 4 printed in Part C of House Report 113-1 to strike $13,000,000 in funding to "accelerate the National Weather Service ground readiness project".

H.AMDT.13: (Passed) An amendment numbered 9 printed in Part C of House Report 113-1 to cut $9,800,000 from the Fish & Wildlife Service for rebuilding seawalls and buildings on uninhabited islands in the Steward McKinney National Wildlife Refuge in Connecticut.

H.AMDT.14: (Failed) An amendment numbered 10 printed in Part C of House Report 113-1 to strike the proviso on line 20, restoring the requirement that local investments are required in Historic Preservation Grants

H.AMDT.15: (Passed) An amendment numbered 11 printed in Part C of House Report 113-1 to prohibit the Secretaries of the Interior or Agriculture from acquiring any more federal land using funds provided under this emergency supplemental appropriations bill for Hurricane Sandy relief.

NAY Votes:

H.AMDT.3: (Passed) An amendment printed in Part A of House Report 113-1 and offered as originial text for the purpose of further amendment.

H.AMDT.5: (Passed) An amendment numbered 1 printed in Part C of House Report 113-1 to provide an additional $33.677 billion in total spending to cover current and anticipated needs in the wake of the devastating Hurricane Sandy. This funding is in addition to the amendment submitted by Chairman Rogers.

Unrecorded Voice Votes (i.e. don't know how he voted)

H.AMDT.7: (Passed) An amendment numbered 3 printed in Part C of House Report 113-1 to clarify that the fisheries disaster money in the Frelinghuysen amendment is intended for states that were BOTH impacted by Hurricane Sandy and suffered a fisheries disaster in 2012.

H.AMDT.10: (Passed) An amendment numbered 6 printed in Part C of House Report 113-1 to clarify that the Corps of Engineers construction projects receiving funds in this legislation will be at full Federal expense only with respect to the funds provided by this legislation.

H.AMDT.12: (Passed) An amendment numbered 8 printed in Part C of House Report 113-1 to require FEMA to disclose all disaster relief grants, not just those over $1 million.

H.AMDT.16: (Passed) An amendment numbered 12 printed in Part C of House Report 113-1 to increase the funding to the National Cemetery Administration by $1 million for the purposes of repairing veterans' cemeteries damaged by Hurricane Sandy.