Obama's $50K donation to the Italian earthquake response

[Egalitariat]

Does anyone here feel different about Obama's $50K offer of assistance to Italy than they did with Bush's paltry offer after the tsunami?

Why or why not?

[SoCalDem]

1. 50K personally, from him? 50K from the US would be an insultingly low amount

:shrug:

[NeedleCast]

3. What's a proper amount?

[medeak]

14. this came from DRUDGE n/t

[tammywammy]

18. It was posted on here earlier and when I got on Google News I saw it there

And this is the transcript

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/04/121331.htm

MR. WOOD: Okay. Good morning, everyone. Happy Monday. Let me just start off with a couple of points on the earthquake in Italy.

Our understanding is that the epicenter was about 60 miles northeast of Rome in the region of Abruzzo. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of those killed in the earthquake. Our Embassy in Rome will provide 50,000 in emergency relief funding. The Government of Italy has said that no further assistance is required at present in the way of search-and-rescue assistance. The U.S. Embassy in Rome has been in contact with Italian authorities for constant updates on the situation and has reached out to Americans living in the affected region. At this time, there are no reports of American citizens among the dead or injured. That’s all I have for the moment.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

4. What is the highest amount of money an embassy can spend w/o congressional approval?

[tammywammy]

5. It's $50,000 from the US

Pretty paltry.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

6. There is a reason that every foreign disaster results in 50K offered.

[Egalitariat]

13. What is it?

[MADem]

2. The US offered Search and Rescue teams as well. The Italians said Thanks But No Thanks.

If they need more, they'll get more.

Italy isn't a third world dump, you know. It's more a "gesture"--like sending a sympathy card.

[virgogal]

10. This is a "gesture" that is not needed. Italy is perfectly

capable of handling this situation itself.

That money would be quite helpful to a homeless shelter here in the USA.

Did Italy help us after Katrina? (I really don't know,not looking for trouble)

[tammywammy]

15. Yes they did

http://milan.usconsulate.gov/news/NE_ENG_033006_Mississippi.htm

[virgogal]

17. Thanks for the link. eom

[MADem]

19. It is a "gesture" in the way that you send a condolence card to a dear friend when a family member

dies.

Italy is our dear friend. She has been for a long time. Our diplomatic relations with them are nothiing short of superb.

Should they need more help, we will be there for them. This is not a Katrina-sized disaster, though. This is serious, but it's not the same scale.

[Barack_America]

7. It's $50K in emergency aid.

It is not the US's total commitment.

I'm sure that once Italy has a better handle on what they need that we'll be donating more.

[Egalitariat]

12. I think I understand that, although I don't know what $50K really gets you

My question was: Is your opinion on this offer different than it was after the tsunami? And why?

Americans ended up donating $100's of millions of dollars after the tsunami, but I remeber an outcry here that we were being cheap in the immediate aftermath when we made our initial paltry offer of help.

Do you feel differently now?

[Barack_America]

16. This is the money that the US Embassy could personally commit to.

It's my understanding that additional funds would require Congressional approval.

Am I wrong?

:shrug:

[Thrill]

8. We're talking about Italy. Why would the US need to offer a ton of money?

The 50k is more of a gesture. Italy doesn't need assistance

[terisan]

9. Possibly they both know/knew how broke we are/were. nt

[Boomerang Diddle]

11. This is what was said:

MR. WOOD: Okay. Good morning, everyone. Happy Monday. Let me just start off with a couple of points on the earthquake in Italy.

Our understanding is that the epicenter was about 60 miles northeast of Rome in the region of Abruzzo. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of those killed in the earthquake. Our Embassy in Rome will provide 50,000 in emergency relief funding. The Government of Italy has said that no further assistance is required at present in the way of search-and-rescue assistance. The U.S. Embassy in Rome has been in contact with Italian authorities for constant updates on the situation and has reached out to Americans living in the affected region. At this time, there are no reports of American citizens among the dead or injured. That’s all I have for the moment.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/04/121331.htm

[FudaFuda]

20. I posted about this earlier today ...

for some reason some of the replies in my thread were a lot nastier. :rofl:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5402293&mesg_id=5402293

I dared doubt whether the government's response to this was appropriate, so you know ... :spank:

I did learn about this default $50,000 humanitarian aid thing, but the price of that knowledge was being insulted a few times. Welcome to DU, I guess.

Anyway, just wanted to say ... the story was a major WTF?! for me too when I first read it.

[lynne]

21. I believe our initial aid offer after the tsunami was $35 Million -

- I don't find that paltry regardless as to who is in office.