Midwest apocalypse. As of March 30 satellite data shows that flooding caused at least one million acres of Midwest farmland to be covered in water for at least seven days in March. One million acres is 1,562 square miles. Up to a million calves may have died in Nebraska alone. This is a disaster of unprecedented magnitude. On April 1 a relief bill was put forth in the US Senate that earmarked $13.45 billion of aid for the Midwest and Puerto Rico. Democrats killed the bill claiming that the amount allocated for Puerto Rico was too little. Both of Virginia’s U.S. Senators voted against providing relief to the U.S. Midwest and Puerto Rico.
Disgraceful. Both Tim Kaine and Mark Warner claim to be members of the party dedicated to the little guy, the Democrats. To hear them tell it, the Republicans stay busy tending to corporate interests while ignoring the plight of average Americans. However, it was Kaine and Warner who decided to play petty politics with an aid bill that is desperately needed by our fellow Americans in the Midwest. Virginians should be ashamed to have elected these two senators.
Maria. Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in September 2017 (18 months ago). The recovery effort for Puerto Rico has provided $11 billion of federal funds in assistance to date but has been seen as slow and underfunded by some people. The relief bill rejected on Monday began as a source of additional funds for Puerto Rico but had vastly more money added to it for disaster relief in the Midwest U.S. Kaine and Warner should have supported this bill to get much needed funding to the Midwest and left the debate over the ongoing support for Puerto Rico for another day. Instead, their actions left both the Midwest and Puerto Rico without funds.
Fly-by deplorables. The Democratic Party has been quite clear in its distaste for Americans living in the heartland. Barack Obama claimed our fellow Americans were clinging to guns and God. Hillary Clinton called them deplorables. Tim Kaine was Hillary’s running mate so we can assume he also sees hard working blue collar Midwestern Americans as deplorable. Mark Warner is apparently nothing more than a sheep who trots through the field of life mindlessly looking to Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi for guidance at every turn. Both have embarrassed the Commonwealth of Virginia.
But, but, but …. Trump. Does Donald Trump play games with people’s lives based on their loyalty to him or the Republican Party? Yes. His capping of state and local deductions was testimony to that. But Trump was elected by America, not Virginia. In Virginia we have have a right to expect and demand that our statewide elected officials behave better than the average swamp dweller in D.C. In this case we have been sorely disappointed. Shame on both Kaine and Warner.
Our time is going to come. Virginia is highly susceptible to damage from hurricanes and the concomitant flooding hurricanes bring. Hampton Roads, in particular, is vulnerable. When (not if) disaster strikes Virginia, we can only hope that U.S. Congressmen and Congresswomen from places like Nebraska can forget the buffoonery of Kaine and Warner, put petty politics behind them and vote to aid the Old Dominion.
— Don Rippert
