Sen. Reid: Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would strand victims of Hurricane Isaac

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are hypocrites for showing sympathy to victims of Hurricane Isaac when their policies would “gut disaster funding.”

“It is the height of hypocrisy for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to make a pretense of showing sympathy for the victims of Hurricane Isaac when their policies would leave those affected by this disaster stranded and on their own,” Reid said in a statement Friday. “This is yet another example of Mitt Romney’s extreme right wing agenda, which asks middle class families to sacrifice in order to protect millionaires and billionaires from paying their fair share.”

{mosads}After the GOP convention ended last night the Romney campaign said it would travel to Louisiana to visit the victims of the Hurricane. The Hill reported that President Obama would arrive in Louisiana to do the same on Monday.

The visits come after Hurricane Isaac hit the region earlier this week. Obama signed a disaster declaration for Louisiana making federal relief funds available to help those in the storm’s path.

Reid said Romney wouldn’t have done the same if he were president.

“Under a Romney-Ryan administration, we would not have been prepared to respond to Hurricane Isaac,” Reid said. “If Paul Ryan and his fellow House Republicans had succeeded in blocking disaster relief last fall, there would have been no aid for the victims of Isaac today. And Paul Ryan’s budget would gut disaster funding, making it much harder to get aid to our fellow Americans in their time of need.”

Ryan’s spokesperson, Brendan Buck said Democrats are using the situation to play politics.

“Paul Ryan believes providing aid to victims of natural disasters is a critical obligation and should be treated as a high priority within a fiscally responsible budget,” Buck said. “It’s sad that some see these heartbreaking events as opportunities to distort his record and play politics. A Romney-Ryan administration will always ensure that disaster funding is there for those in need. Period.”

This article was updated at 3:30 p.m. to include Brendan Buck’s response. Alicia Cohen contributed the this update.