Florida Congressman says Texas ‘is a crazy state’
Published 10:02 pm Friday, February 6, 2015
Let’s begin with a non-denial. Congressman Alcee Hastings, a Florida Democrat, has declared the state of Texas to be mentally deranged.
“I don’t know about in your state, which I think is a crazy state to begin with, and I mean that just as I said it,” Hastings said during a hearing on the Affordable Care Act, speaking to a Texas congressman.
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He later refused to offer an apology. “You will wait until Hell freezes over, for me to say anything in an apology. I would apologize to you, if I was directing my comments to you. I was commenting about the state that you happened to be a resident in.”
Be that as it may, the real point here is that it’s coming from a member of Congress from Florida. Florida. Let’s just look at some recent headlines from Florida, shall we?
— “Man arrested for illegally catching five alligators and cooking them for his Super Bowl dinner”
— “Florida utilities say solar doesn’t work in the Sunshine State”
— “Drunken deer hunt ends with two arrests, dead deer in compact car”
— “Deputies: Woman ate dog treats and left without paying for them”
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— “Toddler pulls cocaine baggie out of woman’s shirt during traffic stop”
— “Florida man attempts to smoke crack in ICU, almost burns down hospital”
— “Florida man claims wife was kidnapped by holograms”
— “Florida man attacks nephew over undercooked noodles”
— “Florida man calls 911 to check on his tax return”
— “Florida man tattoos black widow spider on his face to combat arachnophobia”
— “Boyd Corbin, Once Arrested for Fighting a Drag Queen With a Tiki Torch, Runs for Mayor”
— “Florida man attacks ATM with hatchet after it refuses to take his check”
— “Florida man accused of catching and eating protected tortoises”
— “Florida man proposes to girlfriend, ties ring to alligator”
These are actual headlines, from actual news sources. So yes, Florida might know something about crazy.
But let’s look more closely at the real root of Hastings’ argument — that Texas was wrong to reject the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion.
Then-Gov. Rick Perry announced the rejection in 2012.
“If anyone was in doubt, we in Texas have no intention to implement so-called state exchanges or to expand Medicaid under Obamacare,” he said. “I will not be party to socializing healthcare and bankrupting my state in direct contradiction to our Constitution and our founding principles of limited government.”
But the thing is, Medicaid expansion isn’t just free money, as Hastings and other Democrats contend.
“The expansion adds an estimated $638 billion in new government spending from 2013–2023,” the Heritage Foundation’s Alyene Senger says. “Analysis by Heritage shows that by 2022 any projected state savings are dwarfed by costs. Moreover, these projected savings assume states will further reduce payments to hospitals and clinics for uncompensated care. But it is more likely that hospitals will lobby state legislatures for more money rather than less.”
There are more and more calls now for Hastings to apologize. But he’s entitled to his view. Call us crazy, but we’ll stick with Texas.
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