What happens when a natural disaster hits? Do the States have the capacity within their own budget to just deal with it on their own? How many times has the state of Virginia requested Emergency status from the Feds? Hmmm, I believe we are in a State of Emergency right now! What does that mean exactly to have emergency status? Well, it a nutshell it means you can qualify for money, cold hard cash. Now, as a Virginian, I would prefer to dip into the big pot of resources as opposed to the small state pot. Republican governors don’t mind asking for federal assistance, certainly Governor McDonnell has done so on more than one occasion.
If Romney were President, what WOULD happen to FEMA. Well, let’s listen, shall we.
During a CNN debate at the height of the GOP primary, Mitt Romney was asked, in the context of the Joplin disaster and FEMA’s cash crunch, whether the agency should be shuttered so that states can individually take over responsibility for disaster response.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better. Instead of thinking, in the federal budget, what we should cut, we should ask the opposite question, what should we keep?”
We will depend on the private sector in an emergency? What does that mean? A state in financial crisis, possibly dealing with millions, possibly billions of dollars in crippling infrastructure damage needs to appropriate the money before it can helps its people? Does this sound like a good idea to anyone?
So for states that are the most impacted by any one natural disaster, there is no shared sense of responsibility as a nation, everyone is on their own! Great, sounds like good plan for economic success…….NOT. Can you imagine the state of Louisiana attempting to recover from Katrina with no Federal help?
I hope Republicans understand exactly what they voting for when they cast their ballot for Romney. Those pesky unintended consequences and all.
