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Rand Paul is Being Dragged For Requesting Federal Aid For His Tornado-Ravaged State After Routinely Voting Against Past Disaster Relief Bills

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Over the weekend, tornadoes swept across several Midwestern and Southern states. The hardest hit was Kentucky, where more than 80 people feared dead. It’s the kind of tragedy the federal government can help alleviate by passing a relief package. That’s what one of the state’s senators, Rand Paul, hopes will happen. But after the not-exactly-popular Republican lawmaker, known for kooky COVID misinformation, requested federal aid, people were quick to point out his terrible record when it comes to relief packages following past natural disasters.

In 2013, after Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of the Northeast, including New York, Paul voted against a bill providing recovery funds. In 2017, he voted against relief sent to Puerto Rico after it was pounded by Hurricane Maria, as well as assistance for Texas after it was hit by Hurricane Harvey. In 2019, he voted against a sweeping bill that earmarked $17.2 billion in disaster relief funding to several federal agencies.

Paul’s explanation? He just doesn’t like spending, and in some cases he said he would have preferred the federal government to take the money from elsewhere, such as foreign aid.

But Paul, who was once briefly banned on YouTube, made an exception for his constituents. “The Governor of the Commonwealth has requested federal assistance this morning, and certainly further requests will be coming as the situation is assessed,” Paul wrote to President Joe Biden. “I fully support those requests and ask that you move expeditiously to approve the appropriate resources for our state.”

Alas, people didn’t forget how stingy Paul has been in the wake of other disasters.

Others were boggled that conservatives had suddenly turned socialist.