Barney Frank, an ultra-liberal former Massachusetts Democratic Congressman, and Rep. Steve King, a right-wing flamethrower from Iowa, were the first two national figures to politicize Monday's Boston massacre.
King said in an interview with the conservative National Review magazine that the Senate's immigration reform bill should stop dead in its tracks, reacting to early reports that a Saudi suspect in the U.S. on a student visa had been detained for questioning.
Frank said Tuesday on MSNBC, as reported by Mediaite, that the bombing attacks at the Boston Marathon showed that Republicans' calls for tax cuts could hinder the federal government's responses to terror attacks and other tragedies that local governments aren't equipped to handle on their own.
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Frank complained that conservatives 'criticize government, belittle public employees [and] talk about their pensions' without noting the work government can't do unless taxes are high
Barney Frank demands higher taxes over Boston bombing
In his first statement Monday after the bombings that killed three people and wounded at least 173, President Barack Obama said partisan rancor should be left behind as Americans came to grips with the horror and the carnage.
'I've updated leaders of Congress in both parties,' Obama said, 'and we reaffirmed that on days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats -- we are Americans, united in concern for our fellow citizens.'
But the 73-year-old Frank, no longer a member of Congress since his retirement in January, never got the memo.
'Part of the answer' to the question of how to make Bostonians feel safe again, he said, 'is, and I have to repeat this: Maybe we'll resist this [idea of] "Oh, let's have less government. Let's reduce the resources."'
'No, let's continue to build up security,' Frank argued. “And then, by the way, as a practical matter this is very expensive for the city of Boston. ... I hope that we will be able to find some revenue so that Boston doesn’t have to pay for this absolutely necessary expenditure.'
MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts challenged Frank, asking him, 'Do you feel like you're capitalizing and making political hay of this event that happened ... that you're making a political argument about revenue right now?'
'Yes! Exactly! I'm talking common sense!' Frank responded.
Barney Fran was one of the liberal lions of the U.S. House of Representatives until his 2013 retirement. The only openly gay congressman during his tenure, he was seen as a reliable vote for left-wing social causes and liberal tax policy
Right-wing firebrand Steve King of Iowa said the Senate should scrap plans to provide conditional amnesty to illegal immigrants, given the possibility that the Boston attacks were carried out by foreign nationals. King is among the most reliably conservative members of Congress
'I'm saying that if the sequester had gone through,' Frank continued, 'and we had not had enough money, we couldn’t be able to do this. Yeah, I'm making an argument about reality, and that’s the only responsible response.'
Frank added that he hoped some people - referring to those on the political right - would be 'less enthusiastic about reducing our ability to respond to a crisis like this.'
Also on Tuesday, Frank told CNN anchor John Berman that Americans should be 'grateful that we had a well-funded, functioning government.'
'It is very fashionable in America, and has been for some time, to criticize government, belittle public employees, talk about their pensions, talk about what people think is their excessive health care. Here we saw government ... perform very well..
'You know,' he added, 'I never was, as a member of Congress, one of the cheerleaders for less government, lower taxes.'
'No tax cut would have helped us deal with this, or will help us recover. This is very expensive.'
On the other side of the political aisle, ideological worlds away, Steve King told National Review that Congress shouldn't rush immigration reform legislation because the government doesn't yet know if foreign national weer involved in the Boston bombings.
'Some of the speculation that has come out is that yes, it was a foreign national and, speculating here, that it was potentially a person on a student visa,' King said.
'If that's the case, then we need to take a look at the big picture.'
A Saudi student was initially reported to be a detained suspect, but authorities subsequently ruled him out, noting that a Boston bystander had tackled him to the ground for merely acting 'suspiciously.'
King favors the border security portion of legislation reportedly finalized Monday by the so-called 'Gang Of Eight' in the U.S. Senate. But a plan to provide illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship, he said, should be delayed at a minimum.
'We need to be ever vigilant,' he told reporter Robert Costa. 'We need to go far deeper into our border crossings. ... If we can’t background-check people that are coming from Saudi Arabia, how do we think we are going to background check the 11 to 20 million people that are here from who knows where?'
Senate leaders will introduce their bill on April 19, after Boston attacks forced the postponement of an event originally scheduled for April 16.King leads a group of Republicans who have said they will try to block Senate-originated immigration legislation in the House.
King said in an interview with the conservative National Review magazine that the Senate's immigration reform bill should stop dead in its tracks, reacting to early reports that a Saudi suspect in the U.S. on a student visa had been detained for questioning.
Frank said Tuesday on MSNBC, as reported by Mediaite, that the bombing attacks at the Boston Marathon showed that Republicans' calls for tax cuts could hinder the federal government's responses to terror attacks and other tragedies that local governments aren't equipped to handle on their own.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO
Frank complained that conservatives 'criticize government, belittle public employees [and] talk about their pensions' without noting the work government can't do unless taxes are high
Barney Frank demands higher taxes over Boston bombing
In his first statement Monday after the bombings that killed three people and wounded at least 173, President Barack Obama said partisan rancor should be left behind as Americans came to grips with the horror and the carnage.
'I've updated leaders of Congress in both parties,' Obama said, 'and we reaffirmed that on days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats -- we are Americans, united in concern for our fellow citizens.'
But the 73-year-old Frank, no longer a member of Congress since his retirement in January, never got the memo.
'Part of the answer' to the question of how to make Bostonians feel safe again, he said, 'is, and I have to repeat this: Maybe we'll resist this [idea of] "Oh, let's have less government. Let's reduce the resources."'
'No, let's continue to build up security,' Frank argued. “And then, by the way, as a practical matter this is very expensive for the city of Boston. ... I hope that we will be able to find some revenue so that Boston doesn’t have to pay for this absolutely necessary expenditure.'
MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts challenged Frank, asking him, 'Do you feel like you're capitalizing and making political hay of this event that happened ... that you're making a political argument about revenue right now?'
'Yes! Exactly! I'm talking common sense!' Frank responded.
Barney Fran was one of the liberal lions of the U.S. House of Representatives until his 2013 retirement. The only openly gay congressman during his tenure, he was seen as a reliable vote for left-wing social causes and liberal tax policy
Right-wing firebrand Steve King of Iowa said the Senate should scrap plans to provide conditional amnesty to illegal immigrants, given the possibility that the Boston attacks were carried out by foreign nationals. King is among the most reliably conservative members of Congress
'I'm saying that if the sequester had gone through,' Frank continued, 'and we had not had enough money, we couldn’t be able to do this. Yeah, I'm making an argument about reality, and that’s the only responsible response.'
Frank added that he hoped some people - referring to those on the political right - would be 'less enthusiastic about reducing our ability to respond to a crisis like this.'
Also on Tuesday, Frank told CNN anchor John Berman that Americans should be 'grateful that we had a well-funded, functioning government.'
'It is very fashionable in America, and has been for some time, to criticize government, belittle public employees, talk about their pensions, talk about what people think is their excessive health care. Here we saw government ... perform very well..
'You know,' he added, 'I never was, as a member of Congress, one of the cheerleaders for less government, lower taxes.'
'No tax cut would have helped us deal with this, or will help us recover. This is very expensive.'
On the other side of the political aisle, ideological worlds away, Steve King told National Review that Congress shouldn't rush immigration reform legislation because the government doesn't yet know if foreign national weer involved in the Boston bombings.
'Some of the speculation that has come out is that yes, it was a foreign national and, speculating here, that it was potentially a person on a student visa,' King said.
'If that's the case, then we need to take a look at the big picture.'
A Saudi student was initially reported to be a detained suspect, but authorities subsequently ruled him out, noting that a Boston bystander had tackled him to the ground for merely acting 'suspiciously.'
King favors the border security portion of legislation reportedly finalized Monday by the so-called 'Gang Of Eight' in the U.S. Senate. But a plan to provide illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship, he said, should be delayed at a minimum.
'We need to be ever vigilant,' he told reporter Robert Costa. 'We need to go far deeper into our border crossings. ... If we can’t background-check people that are coming from Saudi Arabia, how do we think we are going to background check the 11 to 20 million people that are here from who knows where?'
Senate leaders will introduce their bill on April 19, after Boston attacks forced the postponement of an event originally scheduled for April 16.King leads a group of Republicans who have said they will try to block Senate-originated immigration legislation in the House.