Words Fly over Sandy Aid Package

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Notions of a happy new year flew out the Capitol window Jan. 2 when a vote on Hurricane Sandy relief funding was denied. Among the unhappy were Gov. Chris Christie and U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd).
After the heated dialogue, it seemed the ends would be met, but slightly later than originally hoped.
Ire, shown by LoBiondo in a brief address on the House floor, Jan. 2 for pulling the vote on the all-important $9 billion of a $60-billion relief package, reportedly elicited a shouted remark by House Speaker John Boehner to the local legislator that he was not about to meet with his contingent.
“Absurd, absolutely absurd,” was LoBiondo’s description of the action to postpone the vote on a $9 billion aid package that was subsequently taken and passed Jan. 4 with a further vote scheduled Jan. 15 on $51 billion in aid for victims.
Christie, not known to mince words, in a brief joint release from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo showed similar displeasure. It noted that “failure to come to the aid of Americans following a severe and devastating natural disaster is unprecedented. The fact that days continue to go by while people suffer, families are out of their homes, and men and women remain jobless and struggling during these harsh winter month is a dereliction of duty.
“When American citizens are in need we come to their aid. That tradition was abandoned in the House last night,” stated the governors.
LoBiondo, impassioned by the slap of inaction on the vote said it was “Disaster on top of a disaster.”
“Do you have any idea what it’s like once someone’s life is ripped from their hands, lives are lost, all personal property is lost, businesses are lost, and the hope of the federal government coming in is what is keeping them alive and motivated? And now, with no explanation, the rug is pulled out from all of us, but most of all our constituents.
“This is a disaster on top of a disaster,” LoBiondo continued.
He noted that 10 days after Hurricane Katrina, $100 billion in aid whisked through the House without hesitation.
“Now, we have to hear from Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and yes, from some people from California and in the Midwest, when they have a disaster and we were there for them, that the rules are going to change for us, and it is now not an emergency and the federal government doesn’t have a role in this. This is absurd, absolutely absurd. We demand nothing less than what we have given the rest of the country.
“An emergency and disaster means emergency and disaster,” he continued.
LoBiondo urged watching videos of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Sandy.
“The people of the Northeast had something that we’ve never seen before, and we’re expecting the federal government to play their role and will be there. That’s the minimum that’s expected.
He added “we worked hard to put together a package, promising, anticipating…Every day that’s lost is a bigger disaster.
“This is not about people getting a sun tan. This is about jobs and the economy is a $40 billion tourism business that relies on the summer season. Who’s going to come on vacation to a community that doesn’t have a beach?” he asked. “The answer is nobody.”
“So the bigger disaster is going to come in a couple of months from now and the money into the pipeline is what we need now. We needed it five minutes ago. We needed it two weeks ago. We don’t need it a month from now. We need the federal government to step up so people’s lives can be put back together. We’re all hit hard enough with the recession. On top of that now we have to deal with the anxiety and the failure of Congress to act, to provide what is normally provided.
“Why has, all of a sudden, New Jersey and New York and Connecticut and Pennsylvania, why are we the first states you’ve have to enter to some new formula that’s going to come out about how we do these things?
“I don’t ever remember a question with Katrina about $60 billion was too big a number. I remember that they were showing up, people’s lives were devastated. So why are our constituents any less important than constituents of the past who had the devastation? And we need to find a way to move forward. We’re going to stay united. We’re going to work together. We’re going to find a way to move this forward.
“I want to make it absolutely clear; this is about constituents whose lives were ruined. We need to do the right thing and we need to do it now,” concluded LoBiondo, yielding the remainder of his time.
In his own release sent to the media Jan. 2 at 5:52 p.m., LoBiondo stated, “I’m encouraged by Speaker Boehner’s decision to immediately address the Sandy Emergency Supplemental in the opening days of the 113th Congress. While this critical federal assistance has taken too long to reach the individuals, businesses and communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy, we should not further compound the problem. I’ll continue to work tirelessly to make the case to my colleagues, both those returning and the new members arriving (Jan. 3), of why New Jersey should not be treated differently in the aftermath of a deadly natural disaster.”
LoBiondo stated that, after a meeting with Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, he and members of the New Jersey and New York delegations were granted “a full House vote this Friday (Jan. 3) on $9 billion for the National Flood Insurance Program with a subsequent vote of the remaining $51 billion to be considered on Jan. 15.