[bestintxas]

This is not federal charity.

I smell a bailout for Northeastern States.

[WVKayaker]

Gotta rebuild those beach houses and Roller Coasters, ya' know! Why should the owners have to pay for them?

[libertarian27]

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg...seeking $80 billion from Congress to pay for damage....

Ya' know, a NYC soda tax would take care of that.../sarc

[WVKayaker]

Of course, those rednecks in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia got very little attention, or help after being decimated by tornados...!

[WVKayaker]

Whoops, wrong pic in last post!

[txrefugee]

They can have the money only if no houses are allowed on islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Why rebuild on barrier islands when another storm can wipe everything out again any time in the future?

[moovova]

The $80 billion will happen.

Obama is peeing his pants in anticipation of providing work for his union buddies, for many years to come.

[Delta 21]

Kansas checking in. Was there more bad weather on the coast?

Spend your own money to rebuild.

Those union fat cats that wouldn’t let help come help you should have some deep pockets.

[CPOSharky]

No one in the northeast had insurance?

Oh, yeah, they voted for omaba. Nevermind.

[The Cuban]

Because NJ gives your redneck states $.43 of every fed tax dollar we pay (meaning i was personally forced to pay you guys $8,000 last year) we fought the revolution for you guys (i live a mile away from a battle site)and drafted that constitution you guys claim to defend, which formed a union that you are part of. Next time a hurricane tornado or hog infestation wreaks devastation in one of your backward states please don't accept any of my money in assistance. Until them STFU. BTW its this sort of stupidity that caused Romney to lose the election you morons. The biggest mistake the North made in the Civil War was not making the South a fiefdom.

[stanne]

I don’t mind giving to the area, what I can, friends and family and solid organizations who will most likely give 100% to victims, of which there are many.

But there is a declaration, further than what we know, known locally on the jersey shore that no out of state workers are going to be allowed in.

In that case, if it’s true, it seems that outside of state tax money should not go in either.

[Moonman62]

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Northeastern lawmakers are seeking $80 billion from Congress to pay for damage caused by Superstorm Sandy — a demand that could wreak havoc on negotiations for a deal on the deficit.

They are probably padding their estimates, too.

[Truth29]

Sure; why not. In fact the GOP needs to stand aside and give the Democrats everything they want in tax increases and spending increases. We are just like the little Dutch boy racing from place to place trying to stop the leaks in the dike. The vast spending tide is coming in with the Democrats and unimaginable deficit spending and towering national debt. Don't take ownership and just let it happen. Maybe something better will rise from the wreckage - maybe not, but Washington is on an unstopable course with the present form of government and entitlement majority.

[JimRed]

(So it costs $80bn- but why do other states p/u tab?)

For the same reason we and other states pick up part of the tab for earthquake relief in California, tornado assistance in the midwest, Mississippi River flooding, southeast and gulf coast hurricane recovery, etc. That should be one of the limited number of things that the federal government does for all its citizens, who have paid for it in the form of taxes (directly or indirectly).

[pepsi_junkie]

This is not federal charity. I smell a bailout for Northeastern States.

Hmmm. Take a look at this graphic from href="http://visualizingeconomics.com/blog/2010/02/17/federal-taxes-paidreceived-for-each-state

It shows the ratio of how much each state receives from the fedgov versus what it paid in taxes. Lots of states get way more than they pay. A few pay a lot more than they get. For example most of the gulf states get way more back than they pay and Texas gets almost the full dollar back. Guess where NJ is? For every dollar we send to Washington, we get back $0.61.

Look further and see that NJ pays the 3rd highest amount in fed taxes and gets the 50th most back in government money. It's been that way for years and years.

Before we talk about charity let's face it, many states get more than they give to the government. But NJ is not one of them. In fact NJ has been the sugar daddy for all those other states year after year after year. But I see your point about people from other states having to pay for our problems, in fact I'm sick of having to pay for everyone else's problems ever darn year. So what if we agree to just cancel federal tax collection for NJ for they year 2012 and all the federal spending in NJ too; let us fund our own state, including the recovery with what we'd normally send to Washington. That's fair right?

Well in 2007 NJ sent $122 Billion to Washington and we got back 61 cents on the dollar so that means we'd need to cover those costs, that's $74.4B. Christies says NJ costs will be $37B so the total costs we'd need to cover are $111.4B. Wow, we'll still have $10 billion left over to give back to taxpayers. I like it! Of course all those other states that love to spend our extra $47B every year will have a problem but remember, this isn't a charity.