Oklahoma's GOP Senators Find Themselves In Tornado Aid Bind
Even as President Obama was declaring that tornado-devastated Oklahoma would get "everything it needs right away," the state's most vociferous critic of federal emergency aid vowed that he, too, would push for assistance "without delay."
Republican Sen. Tom Coburn took a pummeling in the hours after the deadly tornado struck for initially suggesting he'd demand spending cuts before agreeing to federal help.
He did not refer to those offsets in a statement Tuesday morning, saying only that he had spoken to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano about a response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"We still don't know the scope of devastation and won't for some time," Coburn wrote. "But, as the ranking member of the Senate committee that oversees FEMA, I can assure Oklahomans that any and all available aid will be delivered without delay."
His office did not immediately return a request for comment and further clarification on his position, reported by CQ Roll Call, on requiring budget cuts to finance aid to his state's tornado victims.
The issue of federal aid is a complicated one for Coburn and his fellow GOP senator, James Inhofe. Both have been consistent critics of FEMA spending and recently voted against aid to victims of Superstorm Sandy, which ravaged swaths of New Jersey and New York last year.
Three of the state's five members of the U.S. House also voted against Sandy aid; Republican Reps. Tom Cole and Frank Lucas supported the $60.2 billion aid package.
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