Reasons the House delayed approval of Sandy disaster relief

Two months after superstorm Sandy swept across the Northeast, the House on Friday passed a $9.7 billion bill to top off the National Flood Insurance Program, which could have run out of funds to pay claims as early as next week.

Big federal programs are often controversial in the GOP-controlled House. But the timing of the Sandy relief package, coming just after a tough vote for Republicans on a measure to avert the “fiscal cliff,” made this vote nearly toxic.

In the end, the measure passed, 354 to 67.

Afterward, the Senate approved the measure by voice vote, and it now goes to the White House for signature.

Senators had approved an identical measure last month as part of a more comprehensive $60.4 billion aid package, but that measure died when the House failed to pass it by noon Thursday, when the 112th Congress ended.

House Speaker John Boehner has promised to schedule votes on the more comprehensive package by Jan. 15.

Mr. Boehner’s decision to not vote on the measure in the final hours of the last Congress had set off a firestorm among the New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut delegations, who on Wednesday described the speaker’s plan as a “betrayal.”

“I’m saying anyone from New York and New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans is out of their minds,” Rep. Peter King (R) of New York told Fox News on Wednesday.

House Democrats continued that theme in floor debates on the bill on Friday. It’s indefensible, said Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D) of New York, that the Republican majority “could not get their act together” in time to pass the bill in the last Congress.

“[The storm victims] are human beings,” said Rep. Michael Grimm (R) of New York, who was elected in 2010 with tea party backing. “It’s up to us to get them back on their feet.”

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