Senate GOP proposes much smaller Sandy aid package

People continue the clean-up in the heavily damaged Rockaway neighborhood, where a large section of the iconic boardwalk was washed away on November 19, 2012, in the Queens borough of New York City. / Getty Images

WASHINGTONSenate Republicans on Wednesday proposed a $24 billion emergency aid package for Superstorm Sandy victims, less than half of what Democrats hope to pass by Christmas.

The GOP alternative bill would provide more than enough money to pay for immediate recovery efforts through the spring.

Republicans complain that the $60.4 billion Democratic bill being debated in the Senate is larded with money for projects unrelated to damage from the late October storm, which battered the Atlantic coastline from North Carolina to Maine.

The Republican version does not include $13 billion Democrats want for projects to protect against future storms, including fortification of mass transit systems in the Northeast and protecting vulnerable seaside areas by building jetties against storm surges.

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49 Photos

Sandy's devastation on Staten Island

Republicans said however worthy such projects may be, they are not urgently needed and should be considered by Congress in the usual appropriations process next year, not through emergency spending.

"We want to take care of urgent needs now," said Indiana Sen. Dan Coats, ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations homeland security subcommittee, who put forward the bill. "We can look at other needs down the road when we have more time to look at them."

The GOP bill also scraps spending from the Democratic bill that is not directly related to Sandy damages, such as the $150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for declared fisheries disasters in 2012 that could go to New England states, Alaska, New York and Mississippi.

The aid will help states rebuild public infrastructure like roads and tunnels and help thousands of people displaced from their homes. Sandy was the most costly natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and one of the worst storms ever in the Northeast.

More than $2 billion in federal funds has been spent on relief efforts so far for 11 states and the District of Columbia. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund still has about $4.8 billion, and officials have said that is enough to pay for recovery efforts into early spring.

Earlier this month, Govs. Chris Christie, R-N.J., Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., and Dannel Malloy, D-Conn., argued in an op-ed that "in times of crisis no region, state or single American should have to stand alone or be left to fend for themselves," pointing to the "hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, thousands still left homeless or displaced, tens of billions of dollars in economic loss" as evidence that "It's time for Congress to stand with us."

The governors, while recognizing that "our nation faces significant fiscal challenges," strive to separate the disaster-relief needs of their region from the ongoing "fiscal cliff" negotiations consuming Capitol Hill, arguing that Congress must "not allow this much-needed aid to fall in to the ideological divide."

[knsn_for_cmn_sense]

Take the billions from middle east foreigh aid package. And give it to Americans and Sandy aid.

Problem solved.

Americans vs foreign corrupt politicians!

[MTATL670]

Don't invest in protection against future storms now and we will be paying more than $13B when the next one hits. Short sightedness of the Republican party...no wonder that party is dying.

[sueb45]

If we raise the taxes of people making over $250000 rather than a million like the GOP wants---could we afford to help the victims of Sandy get heat back in their houses?

[crankyoleman]

You need to catch up on the facts. The President has already offered to raise the tax ceiling to $400,000.

[sueb45]

I knew that, I was talking about finding money for the victims of Sandy--since according to the GOP it's apparently not important that these people's lives were destroyed and many of them are facing a winter without heat....I guess the GOP answer to that is "if they'd rather die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population"

[tsigili]

We all know the Socialist proposal was filled with pork. It always is.

[crankyoleman]

It was their going in request; neither govwernor expected to get what they asked for.

[johnlockesghost]

Ah yes, partisan politics at its finest.

[LogicRules3]

Of course the Righties in the senate offered considerably less...unless it happened in their own backyard, a devote Conservative ideologue wants nothing to do with it. It goes against their principles.

[wh0622]

This is not about helping, it is total pork above the amount that the Republicans have stated in their bill. Get a life and remember, if the money is spent on pork it will not go to anyone who really wants to help our country out of debt.

[bobnjersey]

[Republicans complain that the $60.4 billion Democratic bill being debated in the Senate is larded with money for projects unrelated to damage from the late October storm, which battered the Atlantic coastline from North Carolina to Maine.]
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hate to have to agree w/ a bunch of 'what about me' republicans ... but on this issue they are completely correct ... that $60 billion request was a joke ... and shows that nobody is really serious about controlling spending ... especially when it's coming your way.

they actually had $11 billion in the request to fund 'whatever' for the subways and mass transit. there's no way there was $11 billion dollars damage done ... because it's all up and running again ... in less than a couple of weeks.

[ddaryl1]

roads, sewer, electrical infrastructure, cable and telephone infrastructure, flood improvements and rebuild of waterways to prevent future flooding


and all of this creates jobs that will create exponential returns on tax revenue.

These are good reasons to increase taxes on corporations who never pay for infrastructure upgrades but reap all the rewards from them


$60 billion will do wonders for the economy and infrastructure there, and its the very same infrastructure that all wealth is built and maintained upon.. Let is crumble and see what the end result it.

Major damage was done.. and this nation should be using its tax revenue to rebuild and improve infrastructure nation wide.

[bobnjersey]

[These are good reasons to increase taxes on corporations who never pay for infrastructure upgrades but reap all the rewards from them]
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everyone will reap the rewards ... so let everyone carry the load for the cost ... by raising everyone's taxes.

once you do that ... they'll be sanity in the proposals made ... the amounts spent ... and what get's approved.

it's the 'no tax' or 'tax someone else' shell game that has exploded the spending in washington.

once people start feeling the pain (pay the price) for the benefits they get ... they won't be for all the 'free ride' proposals.

this is the scam that all the reps (both sides) now practice ... here's the pork for my constituency ... and i'm lowering your taxes at the same time ... w/ the gap filled w/ borrowed dollars.

we don't have the money ... stop spending money we don't have.

[Krowster]

What a surprise, the GOP (Greedy Old People) now think that helping fellow American is a drain on their moneys, as if anyone of them gave a dime. What goes around will come around, and even castles made of stones, will fall.

[markfromdover]

Not all republicans are bad.However, the ones running the party serve no one but big business and the wealthy. Just listen to Boehner fighting for the millionaires! But to hell with the working stiffs in New Jersey and elsewhere across his country.

[commonsenseplz]

Added Note:

How does Govs. Chris Christie, R-N.J like his party now.