SENATORS RICHARD BLUMENTHAL AND CHRIS MURPHY ALSO EXPRESSED SUPPORTfor Harvey recovery even as they noted that their Texas counterparts were less charitable when it came to Hurricane Sandy in 2013. Texas Senator Ted Cruz sought to block the $50 billion relief package back then stating – incorrectly – that it was larded up with funding that had nothing to do with the storm.
"I'm certainly still angry about how these Republicans voted against Sandy aid because they didn't live here. But just because they did the wrong thing doesn't mean I'm going to do the wrong thing," Murphy told the Hartford Courant.
Blumenthal offered a similar sentiment to the newspaper: "There is more than a little irony here in our distinguished friends from Texas advocating disaster relief for their state after so strenuously delaying aid after Sandy. But I think the predominant principal is we are all Americans and one country. And we should come to the aid of the Gulf Coast promptly, fully and effectively."
Blumenthal on Monday visited Stamford-based Americares to get a briefing on their efforts in Houston. Volunteers from the Connecticut Red Cross and Save the Children are also helping in the recovery. Rep. Jim Himes stopped by Save the Children in Fairfield later in the week to hear about their efforts.
Connecticut also sent eight airmen from the Connecticut National Guard with a C-130H cargo plane to help with the Hurricane Harvey response.
The eight airmen from the 103rd Airlift Wing of the Connecticut National Guard departed East Granby this afternoon. Read our earlier report.
Murphy Blasts Education Appointment
The appointment of a former official at an embattled for-profit university to head the Department of Education's enforcement unit investigating fraud at for-profit colleges drew a scathing retort from Senator Chris Murphy on social media.
"This is a joke, right?" he tweeted on Tuesday. "Basically akin to nominating influenza to be the Surgeon General."
On Thursday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced that she had hired Julian Schmoke Jr., a former dean at DeVry University, to lead Student-Aid Enforcement Unit.
Murphy and other Democrats are upset with hiring someone from a for-profit university, whose parent company paid more than $100 million to settle a federal lawsuit involving claims of false advertising and misleading practices.
Senator Richard Blumenthal also questioned how Schmoke could be trusted to objectively investigate an industry given his prior ties to it. "I'd sooner trust a fox to guard a henhouse," he tweeted.
Representative Rosa DeLauro also weighed in: "Just last year, DeVry University settled a lawsuit with the federal government for $100 million, after it falsely advertised how well its graduates were doing during Schmoke's tenure at DeVry," DeLauro said. "The Department of Education's main focus must remain giving our nation's children and students the opportunity to thrive – not turning a profit at their expense."
Murphy has previously raised concerns about federal oversight of for-profit colleges in the aftermath of the failure of Corinthian College. In March, the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General found that Federal Student Aid failed to identify the for-profits' weak financial situation and allowed it to continue receiving Title IV student aid dollars without restriction.
House Delegation Backs Trump Censure
Connecticut's all-Democrat House delegation has signed on as co-sponsors of a resolution to censure President Donald Trump for his comments following the deadly violence that occurred during a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"The President's equivocation of torch-bearing neo-Nazis, KKK members, and other white supremacists who organized the rally with those who counter protested was morally bankrupt," said Representative John Larson.
The resolution had 124 Democratic co-sponsors at the end of August.
Larson issued a press release August 18 saying he would sign on as a co-sponsor to the censure resolution that New York Representative Jerold Nadler introduced that day in Congress. A senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, Nadler introduced the resolution three days after Trump re-asserted earlier comments that "both sides" were to blame for the violence in Charlottesville.
"A president of the United States cannot support neo-Nazis. It's just beyond the pale," Nadler said. "I hope Republicans who have expressed outrage with what he said put their money where their mouth is."
Larson's name – and those of the other Connecticut lawmakers – were added August 25. By the end of the month 124 Democrats has signed on as co-sponsors
The resolution criticizes Trump for his failure to immediately and specifically name and condemn the white supremacist groups responsible for the rally violence and for claiming "both sides" shared blame for the violence during a follow-up press conference in New York.
They claim Trump "has provided tacit encouragement and little to no denunciation of white supremacist groups and individuals who promote their bigoted, nationalist ideology and policies."
A formal censure is unlikely to be considered in the House where the Republican majority controls the agenda. Still, some Republicans have criticized Trump for failing to unite American's against hate.
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