GOP candidate to opioid addict's mom: 'We don’t have any more funding, OK?'

Pennsylvania Republican state Rep. Rick Saccone already had his cruelty on display during a debate for the special congressional election. And newly revealed footage posted by American Bridge shows that his lack of empathy extends to victims of the opioid abuse crisis.

When a mother asked Saccone for help for her opioid-addicted son at a field hearing last March, the lawmaker scolded her. And he brushed her off in truly heartless fashion.

“People are in my office all day long, I’m sure it’s the same with all my colleagues here, you know, ‘We need more funding, we need more funding,'” Saccone told the woman. “We don’t have any more funding, okay?”

And he tried to hide behind kids with autism to defend his position.

“We’re going to try to cut the budget. So, where do I take it from? Do I take it from the autistic children?”

What makes this exchange particularly galling is that Saccone is an enthusiastic supporter of the $1.5 trillion GOP tax scam. That bill was nothing but a massive giveaway to corporations, billionaires, and Congress itself.

The bill is so toxic and so unloved even by Trump voters that Republicans were forced to quietly pull ads touting it to support Saccone in his race.

And Saccone’s own popularity is similarly floundering. Although his district went for Trump by 20 points, the most recent poll shows him losing to Democratic Marine vet and prosecutor Conor Lamb.

And no wonder, because Saccone’s political instincts are terrible. He was one of just a handful of Pennsylvania lawmakers to oppose a bill protecting pets from animal abuse and cruelty.

But hectoring a fearful mother for asking for lifesaving health care for her son is truly low. And trying to make her feel responsible for the government’s red ink because her family needed help is reprehensible.

Lamb, for the record, takes a different line on the opioid crisis.

“There is a huge role for the government to play here,” said Lamb at the final congressional debate. “Only the government can build those facilities and fill them with beds and fill them with qualified staff.”

Saccone’s callous attitude toward animals and humans alike will surely do nothing to halt his sliding poll numbers.