Tropical Storm Harvey has spun off a pissing match between Chris Christie and Ted Cruz.
Tropical Storm Harvey has spun off a pissing match between Chris Christie and Ted Cruz.
The New Jersey governor and Texas senator are flooding each other with insults this week after the historic storm reignited their running feud over relief funding.
The feud centers on Cruz pleading for disaster relief funding in Texas even though he voted against a relief bill for Hurricane Sandy, which slammed New York and New Jersey in 2012.
Christie struck the first blow, reminding the public of Cruz’s vote.
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“He talks about playing politics — that’s what he did with people’s lives in 2012 and 2013, ” Christie, a Republican, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Cruz, speaking to reporters in a Houston convention center hosting thousands of displaced citizens, then called Christie “desperate” for attention as Harvey holds the headlines.
“We have a crisis on the ground of people who are hurting right now, ” said Cruz, a fellow Republican.
“I’ ll tell you, my focus, and I wish the focus of others, would be on saving the lives that are being threatened.”
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Then came Christie on CNN’s «New Day, » calling Cruz «disgusting» for granting his interview «in a recovery center with victims standing behind him as a backdrop.»
«He’s still repeating the same reprehensible lies about what happened in Sandy, » Christie said.
Cruz claimed in his interview that he voted against the $50 billion Sandy bill because “70% of it was not emergency funding” and “had nothing to do with Sandy.”
His reasoning doesn’ t hold much water.
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An analysis by the Congressional Research Service determined that the final version of the bill was nearly entirely dedicated to Sandy relief.
Earlier versions of the bill called for billions of dollars in other expenses, but those were rooted out of the legislation by the time it passed in 2013 with a 62-36 Senate vote.
Cruz, at the time, complained that two-thirds of the bill “is not remotely emergency spending” — a complaint about how most of the money would not be spent for years. But he did not initially claim the bill had nothing to do with the hurricane.
