As the gentle reader is surely aware, one of the GOP’s latest faux outrages claims that FEMA ran out of money and was unable to help the victims of Hurricane Helene. And, as is their wont, they escalated this fake outrage to the point of demanding hearings. Well, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) wasn’t in the mood for their bullshit, and came in and shook the room:

This oversight committee voted against the bill to keep FEMA funded and nine are in states that were directly affected. I don’t understand why we come in and pretend we have all these problems with your agency, and I thank you for your service, when you don’t want to fund it. You can’t complain about these issues and when we talk about, you know, the people who were jumped over maybe or maybe not, ultimately there was a concern for safety. Now we will hopefully get the full investigation, but we know that it was Trump who was out there himself. He put out disinformation and disinformation to the point that you all had to create an entire website to try to combat it. It was a disservice to all Americans, because when a hurricane hits, it doesn’t go into Democratic areas. It does not go to the independents. It doesn’t go to the Republicans. It goes to US citizens. It’s time for us to decide that we’re going to work together and make sure that we can take care of people no matter what decisions they decide to make about who they want to put in the White House and I thank you for your service and I give after.

Whether she knows it or not, Crockett has just laid out a big part of the standard modus operandi of the GOP. They love to set up a public agency by underfunding and understaffing it. Then when said agency falls short, they scream that the government doesn’t work. The only thing missing in this particular scenario is the private agency owned by a major campaign financier or one of the Republicans themselves who claims they can foot the bill. Then it suddenly becomes exponentially more expensive as they line the pockets of the private agency owner. Something like the Orange Felon Paper Towel Distribution Agency or some such nonsense. Then when the private agency fails, because all the money went to the owner’s bottom line, it ends up being nothing but a lot of finger pointing for years.

Having been a public sector employee in a past life, I’ve seen it happen more times than I care to count.

Rope. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) on Republicans bringing FEMA to the House Oversight Committee:

“This oversight committee voted against the bill to keep FEMA funded … I don’t understand why we come in and pretend we have all these problems with your agency … when you don’t want to … pic.twitter.com/KA5bBWGDhr

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) November 19, 2024