WASHINGTON — Hopes of relief for Hurricane Sandy victims got washed out last night.
Legislation to provide $60 billion in federal aid to New York and New Jersey died a sudden death in the House after Speaker John Boehner unexpectedly yanked it off the schedule.
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New York lawmakers of both parties — who had predicted bipartisan passage of the bill — fumed after learning that Boehner and the Republican leadership decided to end the current session of Congress before taking care of those hardest hit by the deadly storm.
“For the first time, I’m not proud of the decision my team has made,” said Rep. Michael Grimm (R-SI) on the House floor. “I’m going to be respectful and ask that the speaker reconsider his decision. It’s not about politics, it’s about human lives and human dignity and I pray that he understands that.”
Grimm said people in his district “lost family members and now I have to go home and tell them that their New Year’s gift is that they have to wait even longer,” he said.
The storm devastated states all along the East Coast and killed 120 people.
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said, “It is truly heartless that the House will not even allow the Sandy bill to come to the floor for a vote, and Speaker Boehner should reconsider his ill- advised decision.”
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-Westchester) added, “Dysfunction . . . in this Congress shouldn’t result in punishing victims of Sandy.”
“This is a sad day.”
In a written statement President Obama called on House Republicans to vote today on Hurricane Sandy aid “without delay for our fellow Americans.”
The Senate already passed its own $60 billion package, but that bill dies when the new Congress gets sworn in tomorrow afternoon.
Any bill for Sandy aid would have to start again at the very beginning of the slow-moving legislative process.
A GOP leadership aide said: “Speaker Boehner made the decision not to proceed this Congress,” but a Boehner spokesman said the speaker “is committed to getting this bill passed this month.”
An aide to Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) — who has been meeting with New York lawmakers and got lobbied by state bigwigs on the package — said Cantor “is committed to ensuring the urgent needs of New York and New Jersey residents are met, and he has been working tirelessly toward that goal.”
Supporters of the package had been worried it might fall victim to the fiscal cliff.
GOP conservatives vented yesterday that the cliff deal didn’t have spending cuts, making the timing of a multibillion-dollar aid package inauspicious.
The procedure developed by GOP leaders would split the package into two parts, putting $33 billion to improve infrastructure into a separate bill that would have drawn Republican “no” votes.