Republican presidential candidate and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is this week’s GOP hypocrite, calling for an unlimited amount of federal resources to aid his flood stricken home state while denying any recollection of his 2013 NO vote on federal relief for areas affected by Sandy.
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Just so we’re clear, since Graham isn’t sure – note the use of the phrase, “if I did” – here’s the roll call on the Senate vote on Sandy aid.
Graham joined many other Republicans in voting against the Sandy relief package because they believed it contained too much “pork” meaning money for things other than the hurricane.
Graham, who has been polling at the back of the 2016 pack since he entered the race, said he will try and emulate his friend, Arizona Sen.
When Hurricane Sandy blew through the East Coast in late 2012, every member of South Carolina’s congressional delegation except one – Jim Clyburn – voted to withhold relief funds.
It’s a charge that has been leveled before in the aftermath of the acrimonious debate the followed Sandy.
Graham was confronted about his vote against additional aid for Sandy victims on CNN during a discussion of South Carolina’s recent disaster.
“Let’s just get through this thing, and whatever it costs, it costs”, Graham told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Monday.
Beginning his swing on a solo basis, Graham on Thursday will tour Samson Manufacturing in Keene at 11:15 a.m., visit the Cheshire County Fish and Game Club in Keene at 1:45 p.m. and attend a house party hosted by Republican National Committee member Juliana Bergeron, also in Keene, at 5:30 p.m.
No estimate is available yet on the damage caused by the torrential rains and flooding in South Carolina.
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But when asked by Blitzer about his earlier attempts to block federal funding for New Jersey in 2013, Graham feigned ignorance: “I’m all for helping the people in New Jersey”.
