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King Won’t Hold Cruz and Cornyn Votes on Sandy Against Texas

Cruz spokeswoman says Sandy bill was ‘chock-full of pork’

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. said New York won't abandon Texas even though its senators voted against emergency funding in 2012 for New York and New Jersey. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. said New York won't abandon Texas even though its senators voted against emergency funding in 2012 for New York and New Jersey. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
By Eric Garcia
Posted August 28, 2017 at 7:59am

New York Rep. Peter T. King said New York won’t hold Texas responsible for its senators’ vote against aid to Superstorm Sandy when it comes time to vote for emergency aid for Hurricane Harvey.

King tweeted that despite “Ted Cruz & his Texas cohorts” voting against emergency aid for New York and New Jersey after the two states were devastated by Sandy in 2012, he would vote to assist Texas.

“I won’t abandon Texas the way Ted Cruz did New York,” King tweeted.

“1 bad turn doesnt deserve another,” he said in another tweet.

At the time, Cruz defended his vote by saying much of the spending in the relief bill was unrelated to Sandy.

“Unfortunately, cynical politicians in Washington could not resist loading up this relief bill with billions in new spending utterly unrelated to Sandy,” Cruz said then in a statement.

Cruz’s spokeswoman Catherine Frazier sniped back at King in a similar vein, calling King’s criticism “unreal.”

A spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn made a similar point, saying that he voted for Sandy relief but voted against the final package since it had unrelated spending, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

“The version that ended up passing, unfortunately, contained provisions unrelated to the storm and ‘emergency’ money that wasn’t requested by local officials there,” the spokesman said.

King has frequently dinged Cruz for using New York as a punching bag for conservatives, saying New York donors should “have their head examined” if they gave to Cruz.

After Cruz refused to endorse President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, King called Cruz “a liar and a self-centered fraud” with a “lizard smirk.”

Rep. Frank LoBiondo repeated those sentiments, saying “despite my Texas colleagues’ refusal to support aid” in South New Jersey that he would vote to aid Texas.

New Jersey Democratic Rep. said despite the fact Texas members voted against Sandy aid, that the federal government “must support Fellow Americans in need. You have mine.”

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