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Subscribe to RSSUpdated 11:15 p.m. ET: House Speaker John Boehner is giving some ground on Sandy funding and timing a vote.
The House will now hold a vote Friday on $9 billion in Sandy recovery funds, followed by another vote on $51 billion on Jan. 15th.
Congress did not hold a vote last night, enraging Tri-state-area members of Congress from both parties.
After a blitzing round of cable interviews, in which Republican Rep. Peter King (NY) blasted Boehner for not voting on the funding last night, he and other New York- and New Jersey-area members say their concerns have been addressed.
"Turning your back on people who are starving and freezing is not a Republican value," King had said this morning on CNN.
This afternoon, after a meeting with Boehner, King's tone changed.
"Whatever's done is done, and that's it," King said at an afternoon press conference on Capitol Hill, adding later, "The bottom line is we need the $60 billion." King later said he was satisfied with the response from House GOP leaders.
Boehner and Reps. Michael Grimm (NJ) and Chris Smith (NJ) also now say they will all support Boehner when he comes up for reelection for speaker tomorrow.
The move also came after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed Boehner and House Republicans earlier in the day.
"Shame on you. Shame on Congress," Christie said in a televised news conference from Trenton, N.J. He called Congress' delay "disgraceful."
"It is why the American people hate Congress," Christie said, adding, "Unlike people in Congress, we have actual responsibilities."
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I have been watching things and realize that Boehner and the GOP are slowly killing America. It has been over 60 days since Sandy and Boehner didn't want a vote to help the victims and businesses get back on their feet. I am ashamed that Boehner is from Ohio. I will continue to watch as all members of the GOP continue to comit political suicide.
The Senate bill just passed on 12/28 and was sent to the Senate on 12/30
However, why should anyone vote for this pork? Tell us how many of these Senate pork appropriations you like
This bill should be put in the TRASH where it belongs
While I have consistently stated that the Federal Govt has no constitutional authority for disaster relief, this bill illustrates why Congress cannot be trusted with these types of legislations. I have gone through the bill as passed by the Senate. I have removed items that some in the media have stated are included where I didn't see them.
As usual this bill is about pet projects and even for Obama to pay for military and expenses of other departments under the umbrella of the Executive Branch.
No one who cares about helping others should find this bill to be in the interests of actually helping Americans in need.
Obama's Pork Barrel Feast- aka Sandy Relief Bill
The pork-barrel feast includes:
more than $8 million to buy cars and equipment for the Homeland Security and Justice departments.
$150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fisheries in Alaska
$150 Million to NOAA for evaluate, stabilize and restore coastal ecosystems affected by Hurricane Sandy
$56.8 Million for NOAA for mapping, charting, damage assessment, and marine debris coordination and remediation
$109 Million to NOAA for Coastal Conservation and NOAA Aircraft Repairs, and Supercomputer Improvements
$274 Million to US Coast Guard for Repairs, Construction & Improvements
$59 Million for Forrest Restoration
$25 Million for Farm Programs
$50 Million for the Corp of Engineers to Investigate flood and storm control reduction
$40 Million for the US Navy for Operation & Maintenance
$8.5 Million for the US Air Force for Operation & Maintenance
$5.37 Million for the US Army for Operations & Maintenance
$5.8 Million to the Air National Guard for Operation & Maintenance
$1.3 Million to the US Army for Procurement of Ammunition
$24.2 Million for “Defense Working Capital” (who knows what that really means)
$1 Billion for Flood Control and Storm Preparation
$2 million for the Smithsonian Institution to repair museum roofs in DC.
$13 billion would go to “mitigation” projects to prepare for future storms.
$207 million for the VA Manhattan Medical Center
$41 million to fix up eight military bases along the storm’s path, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba;
$4 million for repairs at Kennedy Space Center in Florida;
$10 Million for Federal Prison Systems Building & Facilities
$3.3 million for the Plum Island Animal Disease Center
$15 million Construction and Environmental Compliance and Restoration’’ for repair at National Aeronautics and Space Administration facilities damaged by Hurricane Sandy
$4 Million to the FBI -Salaries & Expenses
$1 Million to the DEA for Salaries & Expenses
$300,000 to Secret Service for Salaries & Expenses
$1.7 Million to Homeland Security Customs & Border Enforcement Salaries & Expenses
$855 Thousand to Homeland Security Immigration & Customs Salaries & Expenses
$10 Million for “EXPENSES” no clarification provided
$5 Million to the Office of the Inspector General for Salaries & Expenses
$3 Million to Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, Salaries & Expenses for audits and investigations related to disasters.
$7 Million for GSA Properties Maintenance and Reconstruction
$40 Million to the Small Business Administration for “Salaries & Expenses
$1.1 million to repair national cemeteries.
$58.8 million for forest restoration on private land.
$197 million “to… protect coastal ecosystems and habitat impacted by Hurricane Sandy.”
$3.25 Million to Science & Technology Research & Development for “expenses related to Hurricane Sandy”
$230 Thousand to the Bureau of Alcohol Firearms, & Explosives for Salaries & Expenses
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1pp/pdf/BILLS-112hr1pp.pdf
Boehner and the GOP could careless about America. They never had cared and never will. It is just so obvious now.
Rep. Pete King (R)
Lightning strikes a house the house burns...Obama and FEMA don't show up...tornado goes through an area and destroys 5 - 15 homes...Obama and FEMA don't show up...hailstorm with golf ball size hail hits an area killing people and cattle, shattering windows in houses and stores and the rain that follows floods the houses and stores...Obama and FEMA don't show up...
What's up with tax payer money picking up the tab for Sandy...is it because it happened in blue states...is it because there were more people and property involved...was it because the media showed up to film the dead bodies and Obama shows up for a photo op...FEMA...Federal Employees Mismanaged Again...
Title V of the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act
Automobile accident on the 405 freeway and Obama and FEMA don't show up. Dog pees right in the middle of the living room and Obama and FEMA don't show up. Very old lady falls in the bath tub and Obama and FEMA don't show up.
As long as "We the People" are fighting amongst ourselves things will remain the same and nothing will ever change in Washington.
Its exactly what the Democrats and Republicans want.
A Nation divided.
Please read post #86. <- corrected the post number
Chris Christies Dressing Down of his Own Republican Party on National T.V. is Crystal Clear Proof of the Intransigence of Today s Republican Party. The Credit Ceiling was raised 91 times without fanfare and all of a sudden when a Duly Elected Black Democratic President does the same thing All Other Administrations have done to pay the Nations Bills that Congress incurred in the first freakin place, they start calling him every name in the Book even if it means the People placed in dire straights by Hurricaine Sandy need this help desperately.
The House Republicans need to have their A$$es thrown out en-mass starting with Cantor, Boehner and Mitch McConnell.
Why Just Republicans?
Everything being passed in Congress for the last several years is always last minute Legislation passed to avert some "crisis".
As Larry has keep posting the Senate Bill wasn't even passed until 12/28 which was just four days ago and now there all upset because it didn't get passed in the dead of night?
I'm sick and tired of every bill being passed to avert some "crisis", at the last moment.
When did Sandy hit ,almost two months ago?
The outrage should be that it constantly takes "Congress" this long to do its job. They can't do their job in a timely manner so they need to be taken out of the "Disaster Relief" equation.
This aid relief for the victums of hurricane Sandy should have been taken care of immediately by the Republican Congress. But, as usual --- all REPUBLICANS needed to tag on measures to the relief effort. The REPUBLICAN PARTY did this with NO HUMAN response to the suffering of the people on the east coast.
The REPUBLICAN PARTY are extremely greedy people ---- and ONLY thinks of how they can benefit. Does AMERICA want to VOTE Republicans back into to office again ? ? ? Now think of how well your OWN REPUBLICAN CONGRESS PERSON might response to a tradgy in your own area ? ? ? In all likelyhood they would DO NOTHING unless they can personally benefit by stealing your taxes for their own private interest ----- and MOST OF ALL they could careless about YOU or the welfare of YOUR family, YOUR neighbors.
ALL REPUBLICANS must be voted out of office -- and, anyone that does not service America as a whole.
Perhaps you should read Larry's post which indicates the Senate didn't pass it until 12/28.
Explain how its the House's fault the Senate took two months to get around to it?
If the House had passed a Disaster Relief bill earlier, Harry Reid would have just Pocket vetoed it, because there would have been something in it He didn't like.
There's two sides to every coin and both sides are the Problem.
Could you post a link to Harry vetoing the imaginary bill sent from the house.
Why do they deserve 60 billion of our tax dollars? Just because it is the East Coast they are entitled to more than the rest of the nation? Everyone else has to deal with and make due with FEMA, but no not the spoiled, self centered, we are better than anyone else people who make up the upper East Coast.
The law makers should be outraged. Outraged that 60 billion of other peoples money from all over the U.S. are earmarked for a selfish few states.
Those people have been told and told that this storm was coming. It was a when not if and they should have prepared for it. Like taking out flood insurance like the rest of us have to do. Or be happy with what FEMA gives them.
NO 60 billion for the crybabies of the East Coast, unless the rest of us get our 60 billion to rebuild our ecomonies.
In my Fifty plus years on Planet Earth and my youth spent on the Jersey Shore, I have never seen the Atlantic City Boardwalk just washed away by a Category 1 Storm. Besides the transparent political games played by today s Republican Party there is something else here at play and it is the undeniable cause and effect of Global Warming.
50 Plus Years and I have never Witnessed the Atlantic City Boardwalk just float away until this past year by only a Category 1 Hurricane!
Could you just imagine if this was a Cat 5 Hurricane?
Keep your heads in the sand...
Steve... I won't go into casting personal aspersions about your sense of compassion but disastrous storms and their effects affect many people's livelyhood regardless of what part of the country they are from.
Katrina and the BP oil spill affected the Gulf shrimp industry which meant higher prices for all except non-seafood eaters. The oil spill in Alaska was an economic and environmental disaster.
When disaster strikes it is not just the individual people that are affected but the whole infrastructure of a region.
I am so perplexed at how many stupid Americans are in the USA. For so many Americans to sit and watch Barack the Rip-off Obama and Fat boy Christie team up fill the aide package for the Hurricane victims full of play monet and senseless spending is mind boggling. I guess we have grown into a "Yes Obama" Countrty and we should all suck his left T...oe. What a train load of small thinkers we have
Once our economy is fully toasted I am going to be sadened to see all of you cry like little babies.
It pretty much is. I've lost everything under Obamas administration. My entire area is depressed, my job is gone, my home is gone, my 401K is gone, and I was denied any federal aid whatsoever.
My disaster is quite personal, and I have gotten zero relief. Yet all those millionaires out east need help ?
Try being 50, with kids, and no home, and I'm filling out applications for $8.25 per hour jobs when I was making $25.00 with lots of overtime.
Bill Clintons faux economic boom killed our country. Phuck Democrats and anything those pieces of shizit say.
Sandy was horrible but it cannot be compared to the Katrina disaster.
Obama visited the disaster victims in Sandy. Bush flew over the Katrina victims in a helicopter.
110 died in Sandy. 1,833 died in Katrina.
Sandy victims were known as displaced. Katrina victims were called refugees.
Sandy victims were able to get to shelter. Katrina victims were shot by sharp shooters while trying to cross a bridge. Google it.
Less people died because they were forced to evacuate, having enough time to find shelter. Local authorities and service firms did as much as possible to avert projected damage, but many things still went awry. Had this been a Cat 5, most of NYC/LI, Philly, Maryland, Delaware and NJ would've been destroyed.
In Comparison to Katrina
Sandy in New York / Katrina & Rita in Louisiana
Housing
units damaged or destroyed 305,000* / 214,700
Power
outages (peak) 2,190,000 / 800,000
Businesses
Impacted 265,300 / 18,700
*This
number only includes assessment to date; the number is anticipated to grow
Hey Jersey Michael.
People are more important than things. Don't you agree? The death toll was a lot greater in Katrina.
I agree, but no matter how much government assistance they recieve, they can't bring back those that were lost.
Cant we all just get along to solve just one issue. An issue that shouldn't even be an issue.
Helping our fellow Americans?
Why do we let Politicians and Pundits use every issue they can to further divide us and our nation?
Why must everyone take a side and ignore and refuse to listen to the other side?
We don't have to agree on everything, and we can have different viewpoints on how it should be fixed, but cant we at least agree that something needs to be done to fix it?
A few years ago it was Katrina, now its Sandy, next it will be...
And we will be fighting this same argument again.
I have an idea I posted in #86.
Or we can just remain divided and continue to be a disservice to each other.
In the End were only hurting ourselves.
Yes, I applaud Chris Christie for calling a Spade a Spade and Dressing Down his own Party on National T.V. He is one of the Few Republicans out there that comes close to having Good Political Common Sense!
If today s Republican Party had more of him, they wouldn't keep losing elections.
Imagine how much better Politics would be if the Democrats did the same thing and held themselves accountable.
When is that going to happen?
That's of little consequence when Republicans keep losing Elections.
You can't do anything when you can't get the American People to Vote for you?
Some food for thought...
The biggest problem with Republicans is that they let the Left control the Narrative with the support of a sympathetic Left wing Media.
They have a big problem with believing if they just report the facts the people will make rational decisions.
They will learn and adapt or they will continue losing. 2014 is two years away. We'll see what happens.
.
As long as their is a n e g r o in the Oval Office, don't expect the predominately white Republican establishment to give a d a m n about anything but their own agenda.
And their agenda is make life a living hell for the n e g r o in office. And they are willing to bring down this country doing it.
As I see it Boehner and Cantor are not worthy of being third in line for the presidency. Surely moderate Republicans can come up with someone who can be effective and not obstructionist to become the next Speaker of the HOR.
I'm sure you will also replace Harry Reid correct?
After all, if your going call for replacing all "Obstructionists", then you should be demanding the replacement of the man that has lead the Senate that has failed to pass a Budget in Three Years, has pocket vetoed 17 House passed bills in 2011 and 30 House passed bills in 2012.
Why are Boehner and Trump both orange? Are they aliens?
They think that orange men get more women.
Today s Republican Party has went so far off the Rails it isn't even funny anymore.
Richard Nixion, Gerald Ford, Ike would all be thrown out of today s Republican Party for being Liberals.
They have really gone off the Rails. They are all Nuts!
What an Embarrassment and Disgrace to their predecessors!
Representatives are elected by the people to represent them.
What right do we have to expect our Representatives in Washington to act any better than we do?
If your outraged at Washington and our Representatives behavior then how can we expect them to change when we don't.
They are a Representation of us.
Winning elections matters...
Does it?
Do you really think the Democrats and Republicans don't work together to maintain there Two party stranglehold on our government?
Obama said he was going to change the way Washington works, break the status quo, have teh most transparent government in history, etc.
How did that work out?
http://vigilantcitizen.com/vigilantreport/mind-control-theories-and-techniques-used-by-mass-media/
"What right do we have to expect our Representatives in Washington to act any better than we do?"
Lowering the bar to the least common denominator invites the worst possible outcomes, as this is where extremism lives. We want the best and brightest representing us, not the dullards who elect them.
Are you calling all those people that voted for Obama dullards?
What we have here is a failure to communicate with Representatives.
The House of Representative should have their pay withheld for 66 days or as long as it takes for the Sandy Bill to go up for a vote.
Just take a look at how long it took for our Great Government to approve the Medical payments for 9/11 Cancer victims.
Why don't they just use common sense and approve 1/2 of what has been requested now $30 Billion and then when they come back from their vacations they can vote on the other half $30 Billion?
We've had that for a long long time. We have the government we deserve.
When they tell us what they are going to do for us, and we elect them based on their campaign promises and Propaganda, telling us what we want to hear, not what we need to hear, instead of us telling them what they are going to do for us and how they are going to represent us, then they are the ones in charge, and we let them get away with it.
Ask yourself, why after 118 posts, only one person in here has actually tried to come up with an idea, a solution, to change and fix "Disaster Relief", FEMA, and our government, while most everyone else just tries to make their side the winner and bashing the other side?
You don't see whats wrong with us, with our country?
David,
Do me a favor. Click my avatar and read my column I wrote. I know I'm not supposed to advertise it, but I think you'll enjoy it.
I will. Thanks for the offer.
THE NEXT TEST - Will the Republicans continue their campaign to throw the poor and middle class under the bus.
Because currently our military industrial complex is an entitlement program.
Because Billion dollar a year subsidies to big oil is an entitlement program.
Because Corporate welfare is an entitlement program.
Because tax cuts is an entitlement program.
Because the NRA is an entitlement program. You know, it’s that 2nd amendment thing.
But, according to Republicans, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security?....Well those are entitlement programs that we can do without.
This article fails to mention that only $9 billion of the $60 billion being asked for will be distributed in 2013!
If I am correct the rest of the money will be appropriated over 2014 thru 2016
The bill passed by the senate includes money for a new roof for the Smithsonian Institute, and a tree planting project for parks unaffected by Sandy, how does this help people in need right now?
trees don't cost much but roofs can be expensive. Maybe a couple million for a really big one. I doubt that anyone intended the trees or roof to help Sandy victims. So instead of 60.4 billion, maybe 60.36 is for Sandy.
I'm sorry NJ....But Lib or Repub you guys are on your own just like Katrina..we cant afford to bail you out. If you did not have insurance..better move...no more hand outs...we are broke
calmike,
Please check out Larry's post.
When you are willing to let go of these welfare programs for the super-rich, your attitude for those struck by disaster might be less heartless and cruel.
Katrina aid was approved for $122B, roughly $2B of the claims was found to be acquired through fraud. Flood insurance for homes has coverage limits, $250K for structure and $100K for contents. The Bill had tons of pork added in as noted. Federal money is needed to begin repairs of the infrastructure, not for personal homes. I suppose Cali will agree to return all Federal aid provided for fires and earthquakes distributed over the past 30 years to be fair.
This was a deliberate action to punish the people of New York and New Jersey because Mayor Blumberg and Gov. Christie did not follow the GOP line of business. One supported the half black President and the other hugged him. Americans got to see the real GOP congress. The sad part of all this is that they are willing to punish the people hardest hit by a disaster in the middle of winter, clearly America has changed.
The party of No ideas have become masters of dumbing American down, holding America back.
Where are the leaders of the GOP when there country calls? They have become a gang of Petty Old Men terrorizing the American people. Democracy is rule of the majority. The same people that love to quote the constitution are the leaders in conspiring against it. Shame on you congress. The people of these here United States deserve better.
If you live by the shore and don't pay for flood insurance......why should taxpayers bail you out?? How is this fair to those who have been making the insurance payments for years?? I agree that Federal aid should be provided for wiped-out roadways, schools, etc., but private homes should be on their own!
PORK!!!!
Good for Christie and King...it is about time that some Republicans stood up and didn't sound like selfish, all knowing jerks who could care less about the people....and I believe that Christie does care which is a rare thing. Before Bush, I would have said I was a conservative liberal....after he was elected, I became a raving liberal...lol....after years of Republican hate, family values and turning their backs on the American people and satisfying their own selfish desires and placating their rich masters, it is refreshing to see some Republicans still have a heart.