DeLauro: Putting "President Musk" on guard.
Democratic New Haven U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s party will be out of power when Congress resumes next month. On Thursday, she gave a taste of how she’ll still look to have an impact on the work that does or doesn’t get done.
DeLauro did that after President-Elect Donald Trump and sidekick Elon Musk (whom she labeled “President Musk”) bullied their fellow Republicans in the House of Representative into killing a bipartisan continuing resolution that would prevent a government shutdown this weekend by passing a bipartisan three-month funding bill.
DeLauro, the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, promptly came up with a chart to show how many millions of dollars each state stands to lose without the bipartisan bill, which contained disaster relief.
She titled the chart — first released to PunchBowl News — “Disaster Supplemental: What Elon Will Cost Your State.”
Her state-by-state chart showed the money at stake for red states that voted for Trump’s reelection. The bill’s emergency disaster relief includes $10.8 billion, for instance, for hurricane-hammered Florida, $9.2 billion for hurricane-slammed North Carolina, $2.6 billion for Iowa. (Connecticut would also receive $2.9 billion, and California $7 billion.)
“The disaster supplemental bill contains crucial funds for families in all 50 states … [to] restore their communities, and reestablish their local economies,” DeLauro wrote in an introduction to the chart. (See it here.)
“Hardworking Americans have bravely persevered after facing horrific disasters and have patiently waited for long-due assistance in managing and funding rebuilding and recovery efforts. This supplemental disaster funding is critical for reconnecting regions, regrowing economies, and restoring a sense of normalcy where disasters have upended day-to-day lives, and delaying these resources will only lead to greater suffering and slower recovery for all those who are desperate to move on.”
It was unclear Thursday whether disaster relief might in fact survive in a new version of legislation to continue funding the government. Musk and Trump blasted Congressional Republicans for agreeing to a deal that had plenty of other unrelated allotments for Democratic priorities, which was a price to get Democratic votes needed to pass legislation in a narrowly divided House. Whatever happens, DeLauro signaled that she will not spend the next two years quietly watching the changes Trump & Musk have planned for their administration. The emerging Democratic strategy: Plant seeds of buyer’s remorse early and often