Romney on FEMA

Before the Hurricane Sandy Disaster

During a CNN debate at the height of the GOP primary, Mitt Romney was asked, in the context of the Joplin disaster and FEMA's cash crunch, whether the agency should be shuttered so that states can individually take over responsibility for disaster response.

"Absolutely," he said. "Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that's even better. Instead of thinking, in the federal budget, what we should cut, we should ask the opposite question, what should we keep?"

"Including disaster relief, though?" debate moderator John King asked Romney.

"We cannot -- we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids," Romney replied. "It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we'll all be dead and gone before it's paid off. It makes no sense at all."

-- Grim, 2012 

There’s another nugget here worth highlighting, though. In that appearance, Romney also suggested it would be “even better” to send any and all responsibilities of the federal government “to the private sector,” disaster response included. So: Romney essentially favored privatizing disaster response.

-- Sargent, 2011 

During the Hurricane Sandy Disaster

Watch From 57 Seconds

The Romney campaign stressed Monday that states should take the lead in responding to emergencies like hurricanes. But the campaign said Romney would not abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

-- Restucca, 2012

After the Hurricane Sandy Disaster

Sources

Grim, Ryan. (2012, 28 October). Mitt Romey in GOP debate: Shut down federal disaster agency, send relief to the states. Huffington Post. Read it here.

Restucca, Andrew. (2012, 29 October). Romney would give more power to the states, would not abolish FEMA. Politico. Read it here.

Sargent, Greg. (2012, 29 October). The morning plum. On the auto bailout, Mitt has run out of answers. Washington Post. Read it here.