If you listen to CounterSpin this week (and you should be downloading the podcast EVERY WEEK), you’ll hear this item:
USA Today ran a version of an AP story September 29 about the outrageous and depressing fact that not a penny of the $1.5 billion the U.S. pledged to Haiti for rebuilding after the devastating earthquake nearly nine months ago has actually been delivered. It’s the sort of news that might make readers sad, but it should make them angry. Trouble is, you have to get to paragraph 10 of the 12 paragraph piece before you learn why the money hasn’t moved: Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who is holding up the authorization bill on purpose because he believes it includes one unnecessary staff position. One, as his spokesperson unashamedly declares.
Part of the strategy behind these Senate holds is that you can sort of get away with it without anyone noticing that you’re being a creep. Of course, this works even better if the press plays along.
I mention this mainlybecause last night, after recording this week’s CounterSpin, I tuned in to the Daily Show to see Jon Stewart had a very similar take. (His was, I should say, funnier.) And it featured Democracy Now!‘s Amy Goodman. Watch it here..
And they still have the nerve to refer to this country as a “democracy”, even “the greatest democracy on Earth.” Sorry, no (although of course there are bigger reasons for me to make that statement than just the undemocratic rules of the Senate).
Hi, Everybody!
Call your Senators and let them know that if they want your vote, they HAVE TO persuade Senator Tom Coburn to allow the authorization bill to move foward.
DON’T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH telling you there’s nothing they can do: Tell them that Lyndon Johnson never resorted to that cop-out.
Use your cell phone to call their Washington DC offices or your landline to call their local offices. If you’re talking to a staffer, make sure s/he knows that you require a response from the Senator. If you don’t already have their phone #s and you don’t have a phone book, you can Google your Senators’ names and find a couple of .gov websites with their phone #s. If it’s NOT .gov, it’s either a campaign site or a site attacking the Sen, neither of which will have a useful phone # for you.
Oh, yeah, if you don’t already know both your Senatorsd’ names, our local public library will be able to tell you them (and should have their phone #s, too.
Tons of private money and relief has flown in that direction.You see charity begins at home. Not in governmental offices subject to every political whim.Proving again that Obamas ideas on charity do not work.And get real the Dems can pass anything they want without any republican support.The holdups in all Dem plans have been Dems themselves.And it is getting worse as Dems are running for the hills from all of Obamas legislation.Since the elections that has basically been true.One Republican could not hold up-a feather,let alone aid to a country.You have not even scratched the surface.Actually you have just presented the surface of lib talking points that are routinely bold faced lies.And by the by….WE ARE BROKE!We are going to need relief from Haiti if things keep pounding downward.
I too was surprised that the official reason for the money not being sent (an anonymous Republican Senate hold) was inserted in paragraph 12 of the story. To me it seemed they were trying to lay something on Obama when he had nothing to do with it. In fact, it was Tom Coburn who put a hold on the bill.
The headline of the story should have been “Republican Puts Hold on Billion Dollar Relief to Haiti”. This is an accurate summation of the story. You know that if it had been during Bush’s reign and a Democrat had put a hold on it, the headline would have been “Democrat Puts Hold on Billion Dollar Relief to Haiti”. There is no doubt about that.
Sometimes you just have to go to the horses mouth people.Just talked to Senator Coburns aid.The story is a hoax.The money has been sent already.Go to http://www.usaide.gov/haiti.About halfway down pdf file haiti earthquake pdf faxsheet.
The money he held up is actually- 500 mil from a sen Carey plan that he(Coburn) is working to offset the costs.Nothing more.It will move along soon costing taxpayers less.But LOOK at all the google stories.Lemmings jumping off a cliff all croaking the same lies.I did yell at the senator(through his aide)for allowing this claptrap to go on.This is the problem also.Unless these Senators think it will really hurt them they are so above it all they don’t even correct clear falsehoods.And we waste time venting when there are problems that need understanding all about us.
http://www.usaide.gov/haiti.About does not appear to be a valid url.
From the Associated Press (9/29/10):
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/09/29/general-cb-haiti-earthquake_7968773.html
It took until May for the Senate to pass a supplemental request for the Haiti funds and until July for the House to do the same. The votes made $917 million available but did not dictate how or when to spend it. Without that final step, the money remains in the U.S. Treasury.
Then came summer recess, emergencies in Pakistan and elsewhere, and the distractions of election politics.
Now the authorization bill that would direct how the aid is delivered remains sidelined by a senator who anonymously pulled it for further study. Through calls to dozens of senators’ offices, the AP learned it was Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma.
“He is holding the bill because it includes an unnecessary senior Haiti coordinator when we already have one” in U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten, Coburn spokeswoman Becky Bernhardt said.
Jim ..Again -it is a hoax story.The money has already been sent.I literally sent you tracking on the account and still you repeat this hash
the website http://www.usaide.gov doesn’t exist…. what’s the actual address?
ok…here what i think is the right link
http://www.usaid.gov/helphaiti/