Rep. King: NY won’t ‘abandon’ Texas despite ‘hypocrite’ Ted Cruz
Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) said Saturday that he’ll support financial relief for Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, contrasting his support for emergency relief with Texas lawmakers’ opposition to an aid package for New York and New Jersey after 2012’s Superstorm Sandy.
King singled out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who voted against Superstorm Sandy aid. Both Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) voted against the Sandy disaster aid, saying it included wasteful spending that wasn’t related to the storm recovery.
“Ted Cruz was one of the leaders of trying to keep New York and Long Island and New Jersey from getting the funding we needed, and now he’s the first one in asking for aid for Texas,” King said, according to a local New York news outlet.
{mosads}”But as badly as I feel toward Ted Cruz, and what a hypocrite he is, I’m not going to take it out on the people of Texas.”
King also took to Twitter to slam Cruz for opposing the Sandy aid package.
Ted Cruz & Texas cohorts voted vs NY/NJ aid after Sandy but I’ll vote 4 Harvey aid. NY wont abandon Texas. 1 bad turn doesnt deserve another
— Rep. Pete King (@RepPeteKing) August 26, 2017
As lifelong NYer w/ NY values I will vote for emergency Harvey $ for Ted Cruz’s constituents. Above all, true Americans must stand together.
— Rep. Pete King (@RepPeteKing) August 26, 2017
Cruz and Cornyn pressed the Trump administration in a letter Friday to make a major disaster order and provide “any and all protective measures” for Texas.
Cruz said Sunday further devastation from flooding is expected as rain continues to fall.
“This is a 500-year flood and Harvey is predicted to stay here and keep dumping a significant amount of water on the region that is going to put even greater pressure [on the state],” Cruz told Fox News’s Eric Shawn.
Other New York lawmakers have also said that they will support Harvey relief funding, despite Texan lawmakers’ previous opposition to the Sandy legislation.
Harvey, now a tropical storm, first made landfall Friday as a Category 4 hurricane.
