Former GOP rep-turned-Fox contributor Jason Chaffetz made an appearance on Fox & Friends this Friday, and is apparently suffering from the same short-term memory loss that seems to afflict most conservatives -- when it suits their purposes.
Here's how Chaffetz responded when host Brian Kilmeade asked him whether or not Congress is going to pass Trump's request for Hurricane Harvey relief funding:
KILMEADE: The Vice President obviously moved by the fact that average every day people are doing more than anybody could possibly do in the great state of Texas to recover from this devastating flood and brings the question: Is it possible for America to come together using Texas an example? Let's ask the former chairman the Oversight Committee, former Utah Congressman now turned Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz. Congressman, is this a Texas thing and can this be an American thing?
CHAFFETZ: I think it's an American thing. You can bring the country together in times of need and, you know, ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things inspire all of us. But it does change once you start voting. Once you go back to work and start voting on tax reform and you're dealing with DACA and you're dealing with the budget, you know, people are elected to stand up for their principles.
We are supposed to have a vigorous debate. What I hope changes you can disagree but let's not be disagreeable. How you do it does say a lot of things about the country and how are, and we can keep it civil but have vigorous debate.
Yes, let's keep things "civil" just like Republicans do all the time when they're railing against someone who disagrees with them. He wasn't finished yet though. Chaffetz actually admitted that the request was woefully inadequate, but he couldn't stop himself from tossing in some lies about funding for Hurricane Sandy.
EARHARDT: And the president is asking for about $6 billion, $5.95 billion in aid for the folks in Louisiana and of course in Houston. How is that going to happen? Congress has to pass that before that money... and will it happen fast?
CHAFFETZ: I think is he undershooting. I mean, $6 billion isn't going to cut it. I think he can actually ask for a lot more and probably should because they are going to do have to come back again. It has to originate in the House per the Constitution. Look for Kevin McCarthy the majority leader...
KILMEADE: He's going to Texas today.
CHAFFETZ: He's going to Texas today. He just had his 25th wedding anniversary. I'm very proud of him, but he has a big moment, and I think you are going to have to look at Congress and see if they're disciplined enough to not add in all these superfluous things to that bill. But I think they can pass certainly tens of billions of dollars. Who's going to vote against that?
As the LA Times reported this week, that's just not true: Republicans claim they voted down the Sandy relief bill because it was filled with pork. Don't believe them:
A platoon of Texas lawmakers who voted against aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy in 2013 are scurrying to explain their votes in advance of being asked to vote for the same relief in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
The explanation they’ve crafted almost unanimously to avoid being tagged as hypocrites is that they favored Sandy relief, but the bill they were presented as senators and representatives was filled with unrelated pork. As supporters of fiscal responsibility, you see, they simply couldn’t in good conscience vote for the $50.5-billion relief measure.
Don’t believe them. According to an incredibly detailed analysis performed in 2013 by the Congressional Research Service, virtually every cent of the Sandy relief bill was related to damage from that storm.
Nevertheless, both of the state’s senators and all but one of its 24 GOP members of Congress voted against the Sandy relief bill. Depicting the bill as a side of pork is their story, and they’re sticking to it. Read on...
Don't expect to see that lie called out on Fox, ever. My cohort here at C&L had a reminder for Chaffetz about who would vote against funding for hurricane relief:
36 Senate Republicans voted against relief for Hurricane Sandy. 180 in the House. #PartyofStupid
— Scarce (@MrScarce) September 1, 2017
Twitter wasn't kind to Chaffetz over the "unifying" remark either:
