Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) on Monday morning defended his 2013 vote against a disaster relief package to help New York and New Jersey recover from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy as his own home state of Texas deals with catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey.
Sessions said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that in terms of aid for Hurricane Sandy, he supported an initial, short-term $17 billion package, but opposed a long-term package that he argued had been bloated.
“I felt like we could have been more careful in that process. Once again, it’s not really a matter of whether you vote against it or not,” he said, adding that disaster aid packages need to be “tailored” to the needs of the region.
“The package needs to represent the real need,” Sessions said of any upcoming aid package for the Lone Star State. “If the package is in any way bloated, it will have problems.”
Sessions and other Texas Republicans came under scrutiny over the weekend given that many of them opposed the aid package for Hurricane Sandy years ago, but now will likely be supporting federal help for their state in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
