SC House Reps Vote Against Sandy Relief Bill Again

At the start of this session of Congress, a large number of Republicans in Congress voted against a relief bill that provided flood insurance to victims of Hurricane Sandy. Among the votes against, were four Republicans from South Carolina. The bill passed anyway.

The larger portion of the relief bill came before Congress on Tuesday, it passed by a narrower margin than the previous relief bill. Again, House Republicans voted against it. Rep. Tom Rice from the newly formed District 7, joined his four fellow Republicans (Reps. Joe Wilson, Trey Gowdy, Jeff Duncan and Mick Mulvaney) this time, after voting in favor of the first bill. The full House vote on the bill can be seen HERE.

In the accompanying video Rep. Mulvaney from the 5th District explains his position to CNN's Soledad O'Brien.

Rep. Jeff Duncan of the 3rd District posted the following on his Facebook page:

"I offered an amendment that cut a modest $1 million out of a $51 billion dollar bill for Hurricane Sandy Relief. My amendment targeted what was essentially an earmark that was added by the Senate, that authorized $1 million to a program that pays lawyers to sue people, and often times sue our own government. Throughout the day, I voted time and time again to save the taxpayers BILLIONS of dollars, but I offered this particular amendment because 1) the program is wasteful 2) it has nothing to do with disaster relief 3) it was a modest step in the right direction. My amendment failed by a vote of 202-217. If we can't get a majority of Congress to agree to cut $1 MILLION, from a $51 BILLION bill, when we're already $16 TRILLION in debt, how do we ever expect to balance our budget?"

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