$50 billion Sandy relief bill somehow passes House with just 49 Republican votes

Hotair ^ | 01/16/2013 | AllahPundit

[SeekAndFind]

I remember some consternation in the media a few weeks ago after Boehner split the original $60 billion relief package into two smaller bills that this meant the GOP was going to gut part of it. Absurd. Did anyone seriously believe Boehner et al. would risk more bad press by stripping out the pork after Chris Christie threw a big tantrum about how evil his own party was for even delaying the initial vote?

I hereby retract my skepticism that the GOP leadership collectively has no balls.

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives approved measures Tuesday to send more than $50 billion in aid to the Northeastern states ravaged by Superstorm Sandy last fall, though some conservatives in the House were pushing for spending cuts that would offset the cost of the recovery package…

One of those voted upon – introduced by Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina – called for all of the Sandy aid funding to be completely counterbalanced by equivalent spending cuts. Previously, emergency aid packages, including several measures funding relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina that hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, have been passed in Congress without matching spending reductions.

The Mulvaney amendment, however, failed to pass the House Tuesday afternoon.

Seventy-one Republicans voted against Mulvaney’s amendment, which was more than enough to bury it with heavy Democratic support. The final bill passed 241-180, with 179 Republicans — nearly four-fifths of the caucus — voting no. There was a lot of chatter last year before the fiscal-cliff vote that Boehner wouldn’t bring bills to the floor that didn’t have the support of a majority of his own caucus (the so-called “Hastert Rule”). Fast-forward a few weeks and he’s now allowing votes on bills that face supermajority opposition from the GOP. Looks like he’s feeling awfully good about his leverage after being reelected Speaker. Presumably tonight’s vote was his way of signaling to the tea partiers in the caucus that, if push comes to shove, he’ll let Democrats pass a debt-ceiling hike with help from Republican centrists too. There’s not much conservative members could do to punish him for that; he already has the worst job in Washington. The cruelest thing they could do to him is elect him to another term.

Update: Among those 49 yes votes, by the way: Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: $114,095,560.00 / 366,039,040 acres $.31 per acre

Still a good deal.

We have to remember this — that was when Alaska was totally WILDERNESS. Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, etc. had ALMOST ZERO infrastructure, no oil drilling, no tourist spots, no highways, NOTHING.

[Moonman62]

I see how California will get out of its fiscal mess. They’ll wait for an earthquake and then get a trillion dollar relief package.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: focusing it all on New York and New Jersey as political payback.

As a New Yorker, I know that our state’s budget deficit is $2 Billion for 2012.

See here:

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=711

Assuming NY gets HALF of this $25 Billion, they can close this gap with that money ( that means Taxpayers of OTHER STATES are helping NY close their deficit ), with plenty of cash top spare for Sandy relief.

With this, I see no reason why NY should have any more deficits in 2013. But who wants to bet that the deficit will be larger than ever in 2013?

[SeekAndFind]

CORRECTION:

Assuming NY gets HALF of this $25 50 Billion, they can close this gap with that money.

[TexasFreeper2009]

After September 11, the federal government set aside $5 billion for victim´s families and agreed to spend over $21 billion to help New York recover

Add the new $50 billion to the money New York got after 9-11 and it has received over 70 BILLION additional dollars from the federal government since 9-11.

So basically... Tropical Storm Sandy supposedly inflicted over twice as much damage to New York and the surrounding areas than 9-11 ...

lol

right.

we are being robbed.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: we are being robbed.

Texas (among others) has been robbed. We (in NY) get the money :)

This is Obama’s world — REDISTRIBUTION.

Don’t worry, you’ll get it back if (God forbid) a hurricane strikes you. :)

[Vaduz]

Aid = 50% pork

Pork = kick backs

[iopscusa]

If only the fine repub-progressive Romney were elected everything would be peachy, right? We are all fooked.

[DManA]

Right on. The RINOS AGREE with this the democrats on most spending. Their political genius is the ability to hide this agreement from their base. Boehner probably would have preferred a $100 billion bill.

[broken_arrow1]

Republicans see a need for themselves as the straight guy in a comedy routine. There will always be a need for someone to demonize...Like Stalin’s Trotsky and Hitler’s Socialists (although they weren’t that different from the National Socialists “NaZi’s”).

[MaxMax]

If you notice, Reid and Obama are not calling Boehner out by name like they usually would
against any Republican. The reason is that Boehner is on their side.

And those calls to Boehner from Obama are about golf, they just tell us it's work related. /wing /nod
As long as Boehner stays Drunk Speaker of the House nothing good will come from it. They own him.