Ten California Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against providing aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy last week, joining 169 others in their party and one Democrat in an unsuccessful bid to block what has always been a routine disaster relief response by the nation.

Five of those 10 found that whatever their objections were to funding the relief effort under a Democratic president, they had no compunction about voting for aid to Katrina victims in 2005 when a Republican was president. In all, 58 Republicans who voted for Katrina aid voted otherwise on Sandy.

Republicans Darrell Issa, Ed Royce, Ken Calvert, Gary G. Miller and Dana Rohrabacher voted “no” on Sandy aid and “yes’ on Katrina aid, although three of the five did vote to let the National Flood Insurance Program borrow money to continue its efforts. The other five Republicans who voted against Sandy relief were: John Campbell, Paul Cook, Duncan Hunter Jr., Doug LaMalfa and Tom McClintock.

Katrina relief aid of $51.8 billion flew through the House 410-11 seven years ago and a companion flood insurance bill was passed unanimously, 416-0. Sandy relief aid of $50.7 billion struggled for support, finally passing 241-180, with most Republicans in opposition.

Standard reasons for opposing the main Sandy legislation was that it was too expensive, was filled with unrelated “pork” perks and had no offsetting budget cuts to pay for it. None of those criteria were much in evidence during the 2005 Katrina vote.      

Issa wanted the Sandy aid to be cut roughly in half, to $27 million, and pressed Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner on the issue. He also complained that Democrats had stuffed the bill with pork.

–Ken Broder   

To Learn More:

Why 58 Representatives Who Voted for Hurricane Katrina Aid Voted Against Aid for Sandy (by Theodoric Meyer, ProPublica)

Where the No Votes on Sandy Aid Came From (Daily Kos)

MAP: Which GOPers Voted to Help Victims of Katrina, but Not Sandy? (by Dana Liebelson, Mother Jones)