U.S. House Skips Vote on Sandy Aid, Angering Members From Storm-Hit States
“We help each other,” Representative Rush Holt, a Democrat of New Jersey, said on the House floor. “We always have … There are thousands of people who are not going back to their homes. They deserve our help.”
They and others pleaded with the Republican leaders of the House to rethink the decision, but few were in the chamber to listen.
There was no sign of a response from House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio or Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, who are in charge of scheduling the House.
The current session of the House comes to an end officially on Wednesday after the new Congress elected in November gets sworn in. Legislation does not carry over from session to session, so consideration of an aid bill would have to start all over if, as expected, nothing is scheduled before then.
The Oct. 29 storm devastated New York and New Jersey coastlines with lesser damage felt along coastal areas of Delaware and Maryland.
A full aid package was approved by the Senate last week.
“If we get into the next Congress, you have to hit the reset button,” said Representative Jon Runyan, a New Jersey Republican who added that the Sandy aid package has been largely drowned out in recent days by negotiations over the “fiscal cliff” tax hikes and spending cuts that were set to kick in starting on Tuesday.
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