In the wake of the disaster of Hurricane Harvey, I think it is important that the White House is asking for a $15 billion down payment for relief.
The budget director, Mike Mulvaney, has said he has no plans of trying to offset the cost at this point. That is the way it should be done. There is a lot of suffering and we need to help them.
However, it should be noted that both Texas senators (Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz) who are requesting relief for their state voted against Hurricane Sandy relief. They were also extremely vocal that if they did pass a Sandy relief bill, it should be offset in the budget.
The political games politicians play are dangerous. They mess with people's lives all in an effort to be a partisan hack. We need to remember this type of information when we vote for our leaders no matter what party their party.
Jones lives in Fargo.
