EDITORIAL: Disaster relief, not wall, needed

Sept. 01--If you had to name one of the President Donald Trump's main campaign promises, the pledge to build a wall along our southern border and force Mexico to pay for it would have to be near the top of the list.

Sunday, as Hurricane Harvey's floodwaters continued to inundate Gulf Coast residents, Trump took to Twitter to reiterate his assurances.

"With Mexico being one of the highest crime Nations in the world, we must have THE WALL. Mexico will pay for it through reimbursement/other," he tweeted.

In response, the Mexican government responded to these statements by once again politely batting down the wall idea, and instead offering a hand of friendship to us in our time of need.

"As the Mexican government has always stated, our country will not pay, under any circumstances, for a wall or physical barrier built on US territory along the Mexican border. This statement is not part of a Mexican negotiating strategy, but rather a principle of national sovereignty and dignity," read the statement. "The Mexican government takes this opportunity to express its full solidarity with the people and government of the United States as a result of the damages caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas, and expresses that it has offered to provide help and cooperation to the US government in order to deal with the impact of this natural disaster -- as good neighbors should always do in trying times."

Even Mexico has put aside petty politics during this emergency. Not Trump or the craven congressional Republicans, though.

"Trump is promising billions to help Texas rebuild from Harvey-caused epic flooding, but his Republican allies in the House are looking at cutting almost $1 billion from disaster accounts to help finance the president's border wall," reported The Associated Press on Wednesday. "The pending reduction to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief account is part of a massive spending bill that the House is scheduled to consider next week when lawmakers return from their August recess. The $876 million cut, which is included in the 1,305-page measure's homeland security section, pays for roughly half the cost of Trump's down payment on the U.S.-Mexico border wall that the president repeatedly promised Mexico would finance."

Most people affected by Hurricane Harvey don't have flood insurance. Water could be in people's living spaces for quite some time. The water itself is toxic and will cause additional health-related issues. We can't ask for nearly $1 billion for a wall we weren't even supposed to pay for right now. Harvey will certainly end up being more expensive. This has to take priority. We just got hit with a huge bill. Some estimates say 100,000 homes have damaged. A lot of Americans need help right now, not politics as usual.

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