CNN’s Jim Acosta asked Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas) on Tuesday if he felt any regret for opposing a 2013 relief package for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Weber, who previously called for CNN to fire Acosta, said he voted no on the funding bill because the legislation contained funding for other projects. His response was nearly identical to the pork barrel answer Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) gave to MSNBC’s Katy Tur the day before. Weber said there was enough attached to the legislation that caused him to vote no.
“There is what I would call pork attached to that bill which I did not believe belonged on that bill,” Weber said. “I told [Congressional leadership], you take that off that bill, I’m good to go.”
Critics have disputed that there were unrelated items in the legislation. On Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Cruz was lying when he said the relief package was two-thirds filled with pork.
At the time, all but one Texas Republican in Congress voted against the $50.5 billion relief package for victims of Hurricane Sandy, which ravaged the northeastern coast of the U.S., parts of Canada and the Caribbean. And critics were quick to point out the potential hypocrisy of Texas lawmakers asking for federal funding when they were previously unwilling to support aid for storm victims in other states.
Acosta called out Weber for his response.
“There really wasn’t very much pork at all in that bill,” Acosta said. “There have been some fact-check reports that have come out just today saying there wasn’t really much of any pork in that legislation. There was some additional spending on other items but it was very small with respect to and compared to the vast majority of that funding, which did go to disaster relief.”
The CNN host reiterated his response on Twitter.
Watch the entire exchange in the video above.
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