Moore, Oklahoma

Oklahoma was hit hard by a series of tornado outbreaks. By far the worst appears to be at a school in Moore, Oklahoma. Tornadoes this time of year in that part of the country are not exactly unheard of, but the frequency and intensity of this outbreak is disturbing.

Several organizations are available for providing relief donations, including the Red Cross. The National Weather Service was able to post warnings and probably saved hundreds of lives. Sadly, the tornado occurred so suddenly and powerfully the death toll is so far is still 91 and possibly climbing much higher.

Oklahoma's Senators have a good track record of gumming up the works for disaster relief whenever it is needed.

Late last year, Inhofe and Coburn both backed a plan to slash disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. In a December press release, Coburn complained that the Sandy Relief bill contained "wasteful spending," and identified a series of items he objected to, including "$12.9 billion for future disaster mitigation activities and studies."

Coburn spokesman John Hart on Monday evening confirmed that the senator will seek to ensure that any additional funding for tornado disaster relief in Oklahoma be offset by cuts to federal spending elsewhere in the budget.

Yes, they are still pulling victims from the debris and Tom Coburn's mind is on making sure other poor souls get harmed too. But he'll get credit for consistency, without mentioning the consistency is for being horrible.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]