Governors Cuomo, Christie and Malloy - We Need Congress' Help on Sandy relief

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=160037

"...Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina blew through the Gulf Coast in 2005, Congress approved more than $62 billion in federal aid. One month after Hurricanes Ike and Gustav in 2008, Congress approved more than $20 billion in aid for storms that wrought $35 billion in damage. This marks the seventh week since Sandy made landfall. And Congress has yet to act...

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"...This is not the time for partisanship or regional isolationism. The three of us have reached across the aisle and across our borders to work together during this crisis. Congress must do the same and not allow this much-needed aid to fall into the ideological divide..."

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Republicans Continue to Delay Sandy Aid

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=160012

"The Senate is prepared to take up the president’s request for $60.4 billion in emergency aid for the states hit by Superstorm Sandy. But Republicans in the Senate are questioning the amount requested, and House Republicans have signaled they’re prepared to let the matter slide into next year.

A unnamed senior House Republican aide told the Wall Street Journal that the amount they are considering will be “far smaller” than the president’s request. He suggested that some of the funding requested doesn’t meet the definition of “immediate aid.”

More than six weeks have passed since the storm battered the mid-Atlantic region. Less than a month after Hurricane Katrina, a Republican Congress had passed and President Bush had signed $62.3 billion in relief.

The request has bipartisan support from New Jersey Republican Chris Christie and New York Democrat Andrew Cuomo, both of whom are near personal approval highs in polls for their handling of the storm. Local officials want the funding voted while the storm’s memory remains fresh.

Roughly $5-6 billion is available for immediate use based on current budgeting, but local officials say more is needed.

The details of the request — which include billions to rebuild New York’s mass-transit system and other local infrastructure — were laid out in a 77-page letter to Congress, but Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, is not satisfied with the proposal.

“Who’s analyzed this? Nobody to my knowledge has in a very sophisticated way laid out a plan,” Sessions said.

The senator would like to pass a smaller amount now and wait a few months for the justification for the rest."



The spokesman for incoming House Appropriations ranking member Nita Lowey (D-NY), Matt Dennis, said the request is typical of emergency measures that require immediate reaction.

“Homeowners, families, and small businesses cannot wait a few months for Congress to respond to severe need created by Sandy,” he said. “They need help now.”

Wednesday night, an all-star lineup of musicians performing at Madison Square Garden raised at least $30 million for the victims — an impressive amount that will not even equal 1 percent of what the White House and governors believe is necessary to rebuild in a way that prepares for the next storm."

Senator Sessions is being very shortsighted. He has one of the largest industrial areas of his state in Hurricane Alley.....and he and his fellow Alabama politicians are quick to want more federal money.....
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20120120/NEWS/120129992

Maddox commended Alabama’s congressional delegation for working together to secure the money.


What is good for the goose is good for the gander.....

Just another example of BHOs leadership inadequacies. He promised help with no red tape. Guess he doesn't know how to do that but then why should he care now? He got what he wanted from those poor slobs - their votes. Then like everyone else who has outlived their usefulness to the Narcissist-in-Chief, he throws them under the bus. I am not even talking about major reconstruction assistance - I am talking about already funded FEMA assistance. What a bunch of do-nothing idiots with a do-nothing, lying Boss.

OB doesn't care....he is going on vacation soon if not already.

Anyone with any budgetary sense would have prepared contingency plans built into the budget that allowed for some issues such as this rather than just adding to our debt which already shows little hope of salvage.

Contingent........what a wonderful concept! If not used, it's put in as a surplus for next year.

Gov't will never understand the concept.

Never.

It's too late now as any "contingent" and more only serves interest on our debt.

Anyone with any budgetary sense would have prepared contingency plans

What if the federal government was slow to get money to Escambia and Santa Rosa after Ivan....what if the roads could not be cleared so your private insurance could assess your homes which were damaged. What if there was no money for loans on deductibles......do you think you might be fair and ask why the gulf states have been repeatedly the payees on government checks for 50 years, but when one of those rare NE hurricanes hits......we start talking about budgets. 25% of the entire nation's homeowner's claims have come from Florida since about 1920, and after the last 20 years of getting checks.....you now think the question is about the budget..........then certainly you have no problem with the State of Florida paying a budgetary premium to the federal government of 4 billion a year to cover the skew of federal claims.....why don't you take that to SIRA and ask for the noble sacrifice to be voluntary starting now.....if the budget is your true concern then start right in your back yard paying the proper premiums which are not actuarially sound as you enjoy incredible subsidy....so go ahead and focus on the budget.......

Give it up, SO. You're on another planet and totally off the mark.

Sandy survivors are still waiting for help.

Now all sorts of pork is being added to the Sandy relief bill. On the Fox Financial Block this morning one of the regulars lives in the area on Long Island. She has power but said other areas still did not have power and were still waiting for help.

Of course the extended White House Press Office consisting of ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, PBS, CNN, HLN, The New York Times and other media are effectively covering for President Barack Hussein Obama who is now kicking back in Hawaii for another of his luxury vacations.