It is an outrage that the $9.7 billion relief bill took two months to pass in Congress after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. This is yet another symptom of a gridlocked Congress, putting principles ahead of the people of this great nation.
While we enjoyed a relatively warm autumn in Arizona, the people living in New York and other East Coast states suffered. Without electricity, running water and cable television, these citizens required assistance of the most urgent kind.
It took Congress about two weeks to pass a $62.3 billion relief bill in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Republicans showed no apparent reluctance to agree back then. This is because we are all morally obligated to help our fellow neighbors in the event of a natural disaster, (as long as they live in America). In other words, if you did nothing to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, then you directly contributed to their suffering. That’s selfish!
Friends help each other out, especially those friends you've never met, talked to, visited or hung out with. I, too, share a strong bond with the New Yorkers whom I've never known before. Don’t get me wrong; I think volunteering, assistance by non-governmental organizations like the Red Cross or the Salvation Army, charitable generosity and the personal exercising of one’s free will are important as well. But it’s just so much easier to force people to do things through taxation and legislative edict instead!
That’s why the next time a Category 1 hurricane rips through Tempe, I’ll expect the same compensation. I look forward to the 113th Congress, and I hope that it will spend less time not reading bills and more time approving them for passage.
David Ludwick
Undergraduate
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