Conservatives Don't Want To Pay To Help Victims Of Climate Disasters-- And Don't Want The Government To Work Towards Ameliorating Climate Change

GOP crackpots Tom Massie (KY) and Chip Roy (TX)

Last Thursday, Trump allowed Senate Republicans to vote for a $19.1 billion disaster relief bill. All the Democrats and all but 8 Republicans-- Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Mike Lee (R-UT), Martha McSally (R-AZ), Rand Paul (R-KY), Jim Risch (R-ID) and Mitt Romney (R-UT)-- voted AYE. They rushed it over to the House where Hoyer asked for routine unanimous approval. One far right freak decided to screw things up for all the people in desperate need of those resources, freshmen asshat Chip Roy, who represents an Austin/San Antonio gerrymandered district that is lookin' a little swingy. Roy-- former Ted Cruz chief of staff-- beat one of the 2 or 3 worst DCCC recruits last cycle, right-of-center Blue Dog Joseph Kopser 177,654 (50.2%) to 168,421 (47.6%). This cycle he's likely to be beaten by progressive all-star Wendy Davis.

Democrats are eager to get the aid flowing to people hurt by natural disasters, ironically mostly in red states + Puerto Rico. With most members out for the week, the only way to do it is with unanimous consent and when Hoyer tried again yesterday, another right-wing crackpot, this time Tom Massie (R-KY) refused. Unlike most of his colleagues, Massie doesn't have to be back in his district speaking with voters since he represents a deep-red zombie district north and west of Louisville where most voters just vote straight Republican no matter what. McCain won with 61.5%, Romney with 63.4% and Trump with 65.2%. The PVI is a prohibitive R+18 and Massie was reelected last year 162,946 (62.2%) to 90,536 (34.6%) for Democrat Seth Hall. Massie won all 20 counties-- and not one of them was close. So instead of holding town halls in the suburbs south on Cincinnati or west of Huntington, West Virginia, or in Owenton, Carrollton or Shelbyville, he can make a pest of himself in DC.

Basically all the Democrats and all but a tiny number of Republicans will vote for the bill when they return next week. Hoyer will give it another shot on Thursday, the day before the national flood insurance program, in the bill expires. Roy opposes the bill because there's no money in it to build a wall-- his constituents had better be praying there's no nature catastrophe (other than Roy) in their district because I suspect, the money wouldn't be approved-- and Massie is against it because the bill doesn't cut back on other programs to pay for this one.

Earlier today we looked at how the Bush Regime is cracking down on scientistic research that exposes the inadequacy of the non-response to Climate Change. This ids what the Republican Party has devolved into. As charlatan Franklin Graham declares a national day of prayer for Trump on Sunday, one Trumpist governor, Ron DeSantis (R-FL), whose state is in grave danger of existential flooding, is hiring "a Chief Resilience Officer, someone who will work to 'prepare Florida for the environmental, physical and economic impacts of climate change, especially sea-level rise.'" Trump's policies will hasten the destruction of communities along Florida's coasts but DeSantis' Chief Resilience Officer will try to... prepare them. Time for Republicans to start pulling their heads out of their asses. Even the ex-governor-- and now senator-- Rick Scott a long-time Climate Change denier now says "Climate Change is real and requires real solutions." In fact, the most right-wing and moronic Trumpist from Florida in Congress, the usually brainless Matt Gaetz, who had whole towns in his district wiped out last year, reluctantly admitted that "Climate change isn't something people get to choose to believe or not, it's happening... I can tell the earth is warming based on overwhelming scientific evidence and I don't think it's a coincidence that we've released like 300 years of carbon in the last several decades."

The new positions represent a watershed moment in a state with more to lose than any other. It feels like that moment in the Wizard of Oz, where the movie turns from black-and-white to color. That both offices will be housed in the governor's suite-- and report directly to DeSantis-- sends a serious message.

With the exception of House Speaker José Oliva, Florida's Republican leaders no longer deny the reality of climate change, which every major scientific organization recognizes is real, is exacerbated by human activity and poses an existential threat.

...A sense of optimism is emerging among Florida scientists, environmentalists and government officials who have spent the past eight years frustrated by the Scott administration's head-in-the-sand approach to the rising waters, extreme rainfalls and more-powerful hurricanes on the radar.

But while encouraged, they're also reserving judgment. For while DeSantis pushed the Florida Legislature to find $686 million for Everglades repair, Lake Okeechobee fixes and springs restoration-- all important elements of the climate-change picture-- his muscle was missing behind a bill that would have required state contractors to consider sea-level projections when building in coastal areas.

Unfortunately, most Trump supporters are more likely to get into Franklin Graham's Day of Prayer for Trump than they are to embrace the Green New Deal.