Former Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass):"In this terrible situation, let's be very grateful that we had a well-funded, functioning government. It is very fashionable in America ... to criticize government, to belittle public employees, talk about their pensions, talk about what people think is their excessive health care, here we saw government in two ways perform very well," Frank said on CNN's "Starting Point," noting the cooperation between state, local and federal authorities.Barney's right. The resources to cope with such a tragic event have to be available before the disaster takes place. And let's remember the first responders and volunteers risked their lives rushing in to help the wounded, not knowing whether there might be another explosion.
"No tax cut would have helped us deal with this or will help us recover," he said. "This is very expensive." (My emphasis)
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"We're not asking people, look, do you have private health insurance or not, can you afford this or not? Maybe the government's going to have to pay for it," he said. "And this is an example of why we need -- if we want to be a civilized people -- to put some of our resources into a common pool so we are able to deal with this, and to deal with it, you can't simply be responsive once it happens."
