The Senate voted 62-36 in favor of disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy. Amazingly 25 states have never had a federal disaster. Those states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, & Wyoming.
At least that's what I have to assume, because why would 36 senators, all Republicans, vote against federal disaster relief if their own states had gotten federal assistance after a disaster?
Thankfully FEMA, like so many government entities, keeps records. Sens. John Cornyn (R) and Ted Cruz (R) both voted against disaster relief. Amazing. A state as big and old as Texas has never had a federal disaster.
Guess again. In fact, Texas has had more Disaster Declarations than any other state at 333. The next closest is California with 211. From FEMA:
| Date | Incident Description |
|---|---|
| 5/15/1953 | Tornado, Heavy Rainfall |
| 6/19/1953 | FLOOD |
| 7/1/1954 | FLOOD |
| 4/29/1957 | Hurricane, Rain, Wind, Hail, Floods |
| 6/6/1958 | Tornadoes, Rain, Hail, Floods |
| 7/8/1959 | FLOODS |
| 7/15/1960 | Heavy Rains, Hail, Floods, Tornadoes |
| 9/16/1961 | HURRICANE CARLA |
| 9/24/1963 | HURRICANE CINDY |
| 6/19/1965 | TORNADOES, FLOODING |
| 5/12/1966 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 9/27/1966 | Heavy Rains, Flooding |
| 9/28/1967 | HURRICANE BEULAH |
| 6/10/1968 | Heavy Rains, Flooding |
| 7/5/1968 | Severe Storms, High Winds, Flooding |
| 5/13/1970 | Tornadoes, Windstorms, Flooding |
| 8/4/1970 | HURRICANE CELIA |
| 9/18/1971 | Heavy Rains, High Winds, Flooding |
| 1/27/1972 | Heavy Rains, Flooding |
| 5/20/1972 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 3/12/1973 | High Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding |
| 6/25/1973 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 7/11/1973 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 11/30/1974 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 2/15/1975 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 4/1/1975 | TORNADOES |
| 6/19/1976 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 8/3/1978 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 4/11/1979 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES |
| 4/26/1979 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODING |
| 6/14/1979 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 7/28/1979 | STORMS, FLASH FLOODS |
| 9/25/1979 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 8/11/1980 | HURRICANE ALLEN |
| 9/26/1980 | Tropical Storm Danielle |
| 9/21/1981 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 10/23/1981 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 4/8/1982 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES |
| 5/25/1982 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 8/19/1983 | HURRICANE ALICIA |
| 1/7/1984 | Severe Freezing Weather |
| 10/2/1984 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 10/30/1984 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 4/23/1986 | Severe Storms, Rains, Tornadoes |
| 9/10/1986 | TORNADOES |
| 5/26/1987 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES |
| 11/20/1987 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES |
| 10/5/1988 | HURRICANE GILBERT |
| 4/23/1989 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING |
| 5/19/1989 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, FLOODING |
| 7/18/1989 | Tropical Storm Allison |
| 1/9/1990 | Severe Freeze |
| 5/2/1990 | Flooding, Severe Storm, Tornado |
| 4/12/1991 | Flooding, Severe Storm, Tornado |
| 12/26/1991 | Severe Storm, Thunderstorms |
| 3/20/1992 | Flooding, Severe Storm |
| 7/2/1992 | Severe Storm, Tornadoes |
| 9/9/1992 | Heavy Rain, Hail |
| 12/4/1992 | Severe Storm, Thunderstorms, Tornadoes |
| 4/29/1994 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes |
| 10/18/1994 | Severe Storm, Thunderstorms, Flooding |
| 6/13/1995 | Flooding, Severe Storm, Tornadoes, Hail |
| 7/7/1997 | Severe Storms/Flooding |
| 8/26/1998 | Tropical Storm Charley |
| 9/23/1998 | Tropical Storm Frances |
| 10/21/1998 | Severe Storms, Flooding and Tornadoes |
| 5/6/1999 | Severe Storms and Tornadoes |
| 8/22/1999 | Hurricane Bret |
| 4/7/2000 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes and Flooding |
| 1/8/2001 | Severe Winter Storm |
| 6/9/2001 | Severe Storms and Flooding |
| 7/4/2002 | Severe Storms and Flooding |
| 9/26/2002 | Tropical Storm Fay |
| 11/5/2002 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding |
| 7/17/2003 | Hurricane Claudette |
| 9/24/2005 | Hurricane Rita |
| 1/11/2006 | Extreme Wildfire Threat |
| 8/15/2006 | Flooding |
| 5/1/2007 | Severe Storms and Tornadoes |
| 6/29/2007 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding |
| 10/2/2007 | Tropical Storm Erin |
| 7/24/2008 | Hurricane Dolly |
| 9/13/2008 | Hurricane Ike |
| 8/3/2010 | Hurricane Alex |
| 7/1/2011 | Wildfires |
| 9/9/2011 | Wildfires |
If you lost count, that's 86 Major Disaster Declarations. Add to that 13 Emergency Declarations and 234 Fire Management Assistance Declarations. Those in bold occurred when either Cornyn or Cruz were in the Senate.
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