Sandy recoveryCongress approves first part of Sandy relief measure

Congress approved a $9.7 billion Sandy aid package last Friday after a two month delay. The delay was caused by  fiscal cliff talks, warnings of federal funds cutbacks, and controversy over millions of dollars in unrelated projects.

The measure passed easily through the house, 354-76, and passed through the Senate unanimously. The aid was the first legislative action by the new Congress, which accepted the aid package after a vote on a larger assistance package for storm victims was stalled on Tuesday to the consternation of  elected officials in New York and New Jersey.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took a shot at House Republicans for not addressing the measure when originally planned last week.

“New Jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw on display,” Christie said, adding, that this is “why the American people hate Congress.”

CNN reports that in two weeks, members from both houses will discuss $51 billion in additional aid. The larger aid will likely not pass as easily as Congress anticipates serious talks concerning spending and debt in the next few months.

The original, $60.4 billion aid package was criticized by Republicans as they felt a significant amount of the money was going to unrelated projects. Several lawmakers and taxpayer interest groups threw out high figures of what they considered as waste, including $8 million for cars for the Homeland Security and Justice Departments, $2 million for the Smithsonian to repair roofs, $150 million for fisheries, and $100 million for repair of Head Start facilities.

“It’s perceived to be free money. It goes around the budget caps that are ever tightening. Traditionally we haven’t offset disaster funding, but that doesn’t mean that some of these things should be in there,” Steve Ellis, vice president for Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog told CNN. “It’s honey for the flies.”

New York Representative Peter King denied the criticisms.

“Those reports were totally false,” King said onCNN.

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee,  the broader aid package will provide funding for all federally declared disasters, not just Hurricane Sandy.

Conservative groups urged House members to reject the bill, which included more than $9 billion to help  pay flood insurance claims.

The  flood insurance program is the primary option for coverage when it comes to homeowners and businesses. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) told Congress early last week that the program almost ran out of money due to payouts from storms such as Hurricane Katrina and Irene over the last two years.

The Club for Growth, a conservative business-oriented group, argues that the government should not be involved with flood insurance.

“Congress should not allow the federal government to be involved in the flood insurance industry in the first place, let alone expand the national flood insurance program’s authority,” the organization wrote on its Web site.

Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said that flood insurance claims needed to be met for those who paid their premiums and lost everything.

“But madam speaker, here is the tragic reality — the national flood insurance program is broke. It is beyond broke. It is now taxpayer bailout broke,” he said on the House floor.