Dear Editor:
Six Republican members of Congress from Missouri - Ann Wagner, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Vicky Hartzler, Sam Graves, Billy Long and Jason Smith - all voted against relief for survivors of Hurricane Harvey. One-hundred Republican House members nationwide voted against the relief, and they will probably vote against aid for survivors of Hurricane Irma as well.
They voted no because they said the aid was not offset by cuts in domestic spending. They want to cut Medicaid, which pays for nursing home care for the elderly, and also school lunch programs and Head Start. In addition, they want to cut drug rehabilitation and mental health programs.
While these legislators play games with disaster relief, our country spends more than all of the other wealthy combined on defense. Do we really need 7,000 nuclear warheads to deter North Korea? Do we really need 1,000 new cruise missiles deliver nuclear weapons? When it comes to runaway defense spending, one can also consider all of the Pentagon waste and abuse.
Why do we say yes to massive amounts of military spending and no to disaster relief? The power of money! Those in economic need might need access to Medicaid or school lunches and if they lose those things they are willing to take any low-paying job, thus creating a lower-wage workforce. At the same time we have a Congress that hasn't seen a weapons system it doesn't like. It also pays to have the money to receive big defense contracts! I say campaign finance reform now!