Steve King Finds New Way to Offend

The Iowa Republican favorably compares flood victims in his home state
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 23, 2019 12:48 PM CDT
Steve King Knocks Katrina Victims
In this Jan. 26, 2019 file photo, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, speaks during a town hall meeting, in Primghar, Iowa.   (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Rack up another racially tinged remark for Steve King. The Iowa representative Thursday compared Iowa flood victims to Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans in 2005—and the Iowans come out a little better in his eyes, CNN reports. "Here's what FEMA tells me. We go to a place like New Orleans, and everybody's looking around saying, 'Who's going to help me? Who's going to help me?'" he said at a town hall in Charter Oak, Iowa (see Facebook video here). "We go to a place like Iowa, and we go, we go see, knock on the door at, say, I'll make up a name, John's place, and say, 'John, you got water in your basement, we can write you a check, we can help you.'"

"And John will say, 'Well, wait a minute, let me get my boots. It's Joe that needs help. Let's go down to his place and help him.'" He went on to say FEMA is "always gratified when they come and see Iowans take care of each other." FEMA, however, wasn't quite on board: "@SteveKingIA's recent comments about @FEMA comparing recovery efforts are inaccurate," tweets FEMA spokeswoman Lizzie Litzow. Louisiana lawmakers also struck back, with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise calling King's remarks "absurd and offensive," while CNN notes that Katrina killed over 1,500 in Louisiana alone, a far higher death toll that the few victims of flooding in Iowa and Nebraska. King recently turned heads by asking how "white nationalist" and "white supremacist" became offensive terms, the Hill recalls. (More Steve King stories.)

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