New York may be about to learn a rather painful lesson: When local leaders start getting too greedy, Washinton retaliates.
Recoiling at President Obama’s $60 billion request for Superstorm Sandy aid, Senate Republicans are coalescing around a much smaller package of $24 billion.
Under this proposal, Congress would take a second look at the recovery effort in a few months to assess how much more federal aid would flow to the Northeast.
While Democrats are in the majority in the Senate, House Republicans may well support the smaller aid plan.
As much as New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are in need of aid, the reluctance to rubber-stamp a $60 billion package is understandable.
Many items stuffed in are basic pork; they have nothing to do with rebuilding or, for that matter, Sandy.
To wit:
* $150 million for Alaskan fisheries.
* $8 million for cars for the Homeland Security and Justice departments.
* $2 million for the Smithsonian to repair roofs damaged before Sandy.
And so on.
Perhaps part of the GOP pushback comes from Gov. Cuomo’s ho-hum response to the porking up of the bill.
“[It’s] the practical realities of getting to 51 [Senate votes]. We deal with it on a much smaller basis here,” he said.
Cuomo himself actually adopted a “no pork” rule (i.e., he eliminated “member items”) for Albany’s “must-pass” legislation, but he’s OK with it as long as the ox gores somebody else’s budget.
Understandably, the many people suffering from Sandy’s impact don’t want relief handed out on the installment plan.
But the fact is that the country’s broke and this may be the best way to get money to those who need it with minimum waste.