Tillis, Budd, Dems push for MORE debt, deficit spending

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Hurricane relief for Western North Carolina is one thing.  Paying for it by refusing to cut other federal spending and by pushing the country deeper into debt is another altogether.

Our two senators teamed up with Democrats in what ostensibly was a bid to help recovery in western North Carolina:

US Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, blocked a unanimous consent vote in the Senate Thursday on legislation that US Sen. Thom Tillis introduced last month that would refill the now depleted Small Business Administration’s disaster relief loan program, which ran out of money on Oct. 15.

The Restoring an Economic Lifeline with Immediate Emergency Funding (Relief) Act would appropriate $550 million to fund the SBA Disaster Loan Program Account, which would provide $2.475 billion in lending capacity projected to last until the end of 2024.

Many small businesses in southwest Virginia, Florida, Georgia, and western North Carolina have struggled to survive after Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

That includes Asheville’s Wicked Weed Brewing’s Funkatorium, and Cultura, which have been closed indefinitely and eliminated some positions.

Tillis told the senators that thousands in that part of the state won’t have drinkable water until August 2025.

“A lot of these people lost loved ones, and they are trying to keep their businesses afloat while they are going to funerals,” he said.  “And we tell them we have to wait for Congress before we can send you a check. Because for the first time in this body, we are going to demand a pay for disaster recovery?”

He also said that major employers may decide to leave and that many people are still finding a place to live. It has also been reported that more than 1,500 Helene victims in western North Carolina are still living in hotels.

“When I tell you it’s a crisis in North Carolina when a major lifeline of I-40 is going to be down for years,” Tillis stated.  “I can’t tell people just because I don’t like the way it gets appropriated, it sucks for you. You may have to go out of business while I try to fix the dysfunction in Washington. This is a time to act like we do every time with a disaster supplemental.”

Fellow North Carolina Republican US Sen. Ted Budd agreed that the Senate should have passed the bill immediately.[…]

US Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, said people in communities in the southwestern part of his state will die if the legislation isn’t passed.

Paul argued that if they passed the bill the way Tillis wanted, they would have to borrow and spend another $810 million, something that US shouldn’t be doing right now as it is $2 trillion in debt, and the interest will be another trillion.

“The reason why we won’t do this in a responsible way is because the Senate sent all your money to Ukraine,” he stated. “$200 billion.”  We don’t have the money. I am willing to let it pass it today, but he (Tillis) is going to object to passing his own bill today simply because it gets paid for. I am willing to let the bill pass but take some of the fluff and boondoggle subsidies from the Green New Deal and put it in here.”

Paul said the US is funding small businesses in Ukraine and their government pensions.

[…]

No one is against providing storm relief.  It’s shocking that our two Republican senators are so adamantly against fiscal responsibility.  Why NOT take the money from Ukraine and The Green New Deal?  

Stories like this are making me dismiss the whole Budd-as-Tillis’s-lap-dog scenario and seriously consider the possibility that Tillis has the real Ted Budd locked in a closet and replaced with a body-double.  Budd is nowhere near what he was in the House.

Show of hands: Who voted for Ted thinking we were going to get the same guy who served in the House?

Right now, we don’t have THAT Ted.