$60 billion is 5 percent of the US deficit. It is not a trivial sum. It is roughly $1000 for every man, woman, and child living in New York and New Jersey. It is probably ten times that for every man, woman , and child who experienced actual storm damage. Spending a few days to actually debate and examine the spending at a time nearly two months after the event, is hardly worthy of the venom and childish spew that was shown on television from Christie.
The money will end up in the hands of politically connected big contractors. I live in NJ and travel the state daily, and you would not know that there was a big storm a few months back. My business lost 8 trucks and half our equipment, but we are asking for nothing from the government. We will receive insurance money that we have payed for over the years, but no government funds. We were back up and running in one day, no standing around and crying. If you do not want to risk your property from hurricanes, than don’t build next to the ocean. If you do, don’t come reaching into everybody else’s pocket if your gamble lost. My great grandparents lost two houses to hurricanes in southern Massachusetts back in the 20’s and 30’s, but back then they never expected the rest of the country to reimburse them for their loss. They took it on the chin and moved on.