Pat Toomey Voted Against the Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill


Give Sen. Pat Toomey this: He’s either really concerned about the deficit, or he doesn’t much care what his constituents think of him. Either way, this is kind of impressive:

Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey joined most of the Senate Republican caucus in voting against the $50.5 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill, citing costs unrelated to the Northeast storm.

Toomey took to the Senate floor to explain his opposition. He said he supported emergency relief funding, but not when it included money unrelated to the storm like NASA repairs in Florida and Smithsonian fixes.

“But I am concerned … that some people have used the occasion of the misery these people are suffering through to add on all kinds of spending that has absolutely nothing to do with Superstorm Sandy, and none of it is offset. So we have a $1.1 trillion budget deficit, and we are just adding another $60 billion right on top of that,” he said during his floor speech.

Kind of makes you long for the days of Pork King Arlen Specter. The man would bring home the bacon even when a natural disaster hadn’t struck the state. Sometimes, he even let other states get a pet project in, too! Toomey, it should be clear, is not cut from that cloth. The whole thing makes you wonder, though: Is Chris Christie going to give Toomey a talking-to? [The Morning Call]