“I would not give one penny to [The Republicans] based on what they did to us last night… [Republicans can] kiss their seats goodbye…because if you can’t provide the most basic assistance for your district, who needs you in Congress?” – Representative Peter King, R-NY

As the House approved the bill to kick the can down the road and climb back up to the edge of the fiscal cliff – because we’re not out of the woods on that one, yet – it failed to consider a bill to assist victims of Sandy. They managed to increase their own salaries and continue to allow the government to wiretap and record all Internet activity without warrant, but they failed to remember the poor and suffering of the nation.

Yes, I know there’s too much spending in government. I heartily agree that there have to be fundamental restructurings of entitlement programs, or we’re all going down the tubes. But one function of a government is to take resources from one part of the nation that’s doing well and ship them over to another part that isn’t. It’s one of the most basic forms of government. I *want* my government to help out the people hit by disasters, not only because I might need some of that help myself one day, but because it’s the right and compassionate thing to do.

The GOP holds the gavel in the House, and it was their responsibility to remember the poor in that body. They have failed, and our nation fails with that decision. No matter how many times we sing “America the Beautiful”, God won’t shed his grace on us if, as a nation, we fail to remember His most simple of rules: to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.