GOP sets Sandy-aid votes after uproar

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., right, accompanied by fellow lawmakers, speak to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013, after a meeting with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, over the delayed vote on aid for the victims of Superstorm Sandy. From left are, Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., and King. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., right, accompanied by fellow lawmakers, speak to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013, after a meeting with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, over the delayed vote on aid for the victims of Superstorm Sandy. From left are, Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., and King. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

— House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor pledged to New Jersey and New York lawmakers that the House will pass a $60 billion aid package for Hurricane Sandy victims after scrapping a vote Tuesday night.

Boehner told lawmakers the House will vote Friday on raising the government’s borrowing authority by $9 billion for flood insurance to enable it to continue paying damage claims, New York Republican Peter King of Long Island said. On Jan. 15, another $51 billion will be voted on by the full House, he said.

The decision to allow a vote followed a chorus ofcriticism from Northeastern lawmakers and Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Andrew Cuomo of New York. Christie called his fellow Republicans in Congress “know-nothings” and specifically blamed Boehner for the delay.

“What I watched last night was disappointing and disgusting to watch,” Christie said Wednesday at a news briefing in Trenton. “We have been waiting six times longer than the victims of Katrina, and there’s no end in sight. New Jersey and New Yorkers are tired of being treated like second-class citizens. We deserve better, and America deserves better.”

Within 10 days of Hurricane Katrina’s striking New Orleans and the Gulf Coastin 2005 and causing the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, Congress approved a $51.8 billion relief package.

Sandy struck Oct. 29, leaving more than 100 people dead in 10 U.S. states, flooding New York City’s subway system and ravaging beach towns from New Jersey’s Atlantic City to Bridgeport, Conn. Christie, Cuomo and Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, both Democrats, had sought about $83 billion in aid. President Barack Obama asked Congress last month for $60.4 billion to pay for damage.

Christie and Cuomo released a joint statement condemning the decision not to vote on the storm-aid bill this week.

“With all that New York and New Jersey and our millions of residents and small businesses have suffered and endured, this continued inaction and indifference by the House of Representatives is inexcusable,” they said, adding, “This failure to come to the aid of Americans following a severe and devastating natural disaster is unprecedented.”

Cuomo, talking with reporters in Albany, N.Y., went further. He said House Republicans had “reneged on their word” to vote on the hurricane-relief measure this week, and he accused them of “dereliction of duty.”

But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a political independent, said that although he was “disappointed,” he would not criticize the Republican leadership.He said he had been talking with Boehner and that “he assured me that this would be considered in the month of January.”

Obama criticized Republicans for failing to act, noting that the package won bipartisan support in the Senate.

“When tragedy strikes, Americans come together to support those in need,” Obama said in a statement. “I urge Republicans in the House of Representatives to do the same.”

Democrats and Republicans from the affected region took to the House floor Tuesday saying they were shocked to learn that lawmakers weren’t going to consider the measure before the 113th Congress convenes today.

“Republicans have no trouble finding New York when it comes to raising money,” King, whose district was devastated by the storm, said in an interview on MSNBC before Boehner scheduled the vote. “Anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans after this should have their head examined.”

New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler, who represents parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, called the delay “unprecedented, disgusting, unworthy of the leadership of this House.”

Republican Michael Grimm, whose Staten Island district in New York City was hit by the storm, said he was in disbelief.

“I am not proud of the decision of my team,” Grimm said.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., issued a blistering statement Wednesday, calling the inaction “indefensible and shameful.” She called on Boehner to visit damaged neighborhoods on Staten Island and in the Rockaways, but said, “I doubt he has the dignity nor the guts to do it.”

Boehner canceled the vote Tuesday because “with all that was going on with the fiscal cliff, it wasn’t the right time to bring it up,” King said. King said he was forgiving.

“Whether we agree or disagree, obviously we made our position clear,” he said. “That’s in the past.”

Boehner and Cantor said in a joint statement Wednesday that “getting critical aid to the victims of Hurricane Sandy should be the first priority in the new Congress, and that was reaffirmed today with members of the New York and New Jersey delegations.”

If the House, as expected, approves the $9 billion flood insurance proposal, the Senate plans to move quickly in hopes of approving the aid on a voice vote Friday.

Some Republicans became skeptical of the aid package after a Congressional Budget Office analysis showed most of the money wouldn’t be spent before 2015. Just $9 billion would go out the door in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, the agency said. Many Republicans say that shows the money in the bill, much of which would go to long-term projects to protect against future storms, isn’t needed soon.

Democrats “packed it with pork” and “then dared us not to vote on it,” Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, told Fox News on Wednesday.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., suggested that the aid request was harmed by its size.

“Sometimes when you ask for too much, you don’t get anything,” Blunt told CNN.

The original plan to vote on the measure was dropped the day congressional leaders struck a deal to avert $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts economists said threatened to tip the U.S. back into recession. Bills automatically die at the end of a Congress, and the Sandy funding will have to be reintroduced.

“Getting $60 billion is not an easy task even in the best of times and these were hardly the best of times,” Sen.Charles Schumer of New York, the chamber’s No. 3 Democrat, said in New York on Wednesday. “We’re going to have to start over.”

In the Senate, a dozen new members are to be sworn in today. While they’ll increase the chamber’s Democratic majority, which may make it easier to approve the spending, they may also want to put their own imprint on the bill. The Senate also is not scheduled to meet again until Jan. 21, leaving little time to resubmit the measure and organize support before the end of the month.

Of the original request from the three most affected states, New York’s was the largest, at almost $42 billion. The request included $9 billion to repair damage in New York City and $4.8 billion for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to fix the subway system. Another $9 billion would help prevent flooding, which Cuomo says is needed as powerful stormsbecome more frequent. Sandy destroyed or damaged about 305,000 homes in New York state.

New Jersey’s almost $37 billion request included about $7.4 billion for flood mitigation and protection. The tidal surge caused by Sandy swept over barrier islands and eroded 100 miles of the state’s coastline. It also destroyed or damaged 30,000 homes.

Christie said Americans are “tired of the palace intrigue and political partisanship” in Congress.

“They are so consumed with their own internal politics they forgot they have a job to do,” Christie said. “We’ve got people down there who used citizens of this country like pawns on a chessboard.” Information for this article was contributed by James Rowley, Brian Faler, Freeman Klopott, Michelle Kaske, Henry Goldman, Brian Chappatta and Elise Young of Bloomberg News; by MarcSantora, Raymond Hernandez, Thomas Kaplan and David W. Chen of The New York Times and by Andrew Miga, Larry Margasak and Donna Cassata of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/03/2013

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