>As you pointed out eloquently - the real issue here is, and always was, "It's my money and I'm not giving you a penny."
>It's wonderful how we learn to cloak self-interest in pseudo-philosophical terms.
>
>It's amazing how all those rugged individuals in the Texas congressional delegation who voted against aid for Hurricane Sandy victims have had a sudden philosophical transformation when voting for aid to Hurricane Harvey victims.
>
>Twain said it this way "Show me where a man gets his corn pone and I'll tell you what his 'pinion is."

The point is a concept well taken - despite my belief in the free market system, there DOES need to be funds set aside at both the federal and state level for disasters. We've certainly had enough bad hurricanes in the last 100 years to know that one bad storm can destroy cities. Houston and surrounding areas will need that.

One can support rugged individualism and still believe in the concept of socking money away for emergencies to rebuild infrastructure, etc.

Having said that, Ted Cruz is not wrong when he talks about the amount of extra fat that the Ds tried to put in the Sandy bill. Yes, he exaggerated on the % of fat, but he's not wrong that the Ds put enough extra fat into the bill that they virtually dared the Rs to vote against it.

Once, just once, I'd like to see a bill with funding for JUST the purpose of that bill, nothing else. Obama initially railed against the process of jamming extra items into funding bills, yet his administration certainly pulled enough of it over time.