Senate Key Vote: Oppose Superstorm Sandy Unemployment Relief Act of 2012

December 18, 2012 JBudget & Spending

Dear Senators:

On behalf of more than two million Americans for Prosperity activists in all 50 states, I urge you to oppose the so-called Superstorm Sandy Unemployment Relief Act of 2012, which is offered as a substitute to H.R. 1. The bill has serious policy and procedural problems.

I urge you to vote NO on the Superstorm Sandy Unemployment Relief Act of 2012. Americans for Prosperity will include this vote in our congressional scorecard.

The package, which totals $60.4 billion, does not include an offset. In order to bring fiscal sanity to Washington, lawmakers need to stop the practice of borrowing money to spend in the present.

The bill also includes $55 billion in disaster and emergency funding that “won’t count” toward the $1.047 trillion discretionary spending cap for FY2013 established in the Budget Control Act. This creates an incentive for members to attach pet spending projects to the bill, many of which are unrelated to Hurricane Sandy relief. This process not only mocks the spending caps but undermines the rationale for the relief bill in the first place. These projects should be considered in separate legislation and they should count toward the spending caps.

Also included in the bill is nearly $13 billion in mitigation projects to “reduce the risk from future disasters.” This funding defeats the ostensible goal of providing immediate relief for Hurricane Sandy victims and should be considered separately.

I urge you to vote NO on the Superstorm Sandy Unemployment Relief Act of 2012. Americans for Prosperity will include this vote in our congressional scorecard.

Sincerely,

James Valvo
Director of Policy
Americans for Prosperity

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