Ever notice how very conscientious Republicans suddenly become about spending the taxpayers’ money — when there’s a Democrat in the White House?
WASHINGTON—House lawmakers don’t intend to introduce an emergency funding bill anywhere near as large as the $60 billion the Obama administration is seeking to help rebuild the Northeast after superstorm Sandy, saying the administration hasn’t provided sufficient details to justify spending that amount, two senior GOP aides said Wednesday.
If the Republican-controlled House doesn’t take up the measure this year, it would push debate on a large rebuilding bill into next year—something New York and New Jersey officials have said they want to avoid.
House Appropriations Committee staff members are trying to determine how much might be needed to pay for the immediate needs of victims of the crisis. But a senior GOP aide said that amount would be “far smaller” than the $60 billion the administration is seeking. The aide said it was too early to say how much money the committee would recommend sending to New York, New Jersey and other affected states.
Between $5 billion and $6 billion would be immediately available to the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the terms of the Budget Control Act signed into law last year, the aide said.
But lawmakers and governors from New York and New Jersey said that isn’t enough to cover the costs of rebuilding. They have asked for money for a range of projects, not just FEMA. The White House’s request includes items such as $6.2 billion to repair the New York City area’s mass-transit system and $15 billion that the Department of Housing and Urban Development would give local governments to help rebuild homes and other infrastructure.
Someone needs to keep a running tally of the number of deaths caused by Rethug insanity. I’d love to see electronic tally boards on the side of the highway with XX,XXXX people have died so far this year because of Republican opposition to health care, XXX,XXX people have died because of the Republican war of choice, XX,XXX people have lost their homes because of Republican economic brinksmanship etc, etc, ad infinitum.
So we’re gonna give HUD 15 billion targetted to homeowners? What happened to all of that mortgage relief again, that’s right it went to the banks.