NJ Assemblyman Calls on House Speaker Boehner to Step Aside Following the Failure of the U.S. Congress to Vote on Hurricane Sandy Funding

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D–19) released the following statement today in response to House Speaker Boehner’s decision not to allow the U.S. House of Representatives to vote legislation providing federal Hurricane Sandy assistance:

“The failure of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on legislation that would have provided desperately needed federal assistance for families and businesses trying to recover from Hurricane Sandy is a disgrace. With more than two months having passed since Sandy’s devastation, the lack of any sense of urgency exhibited by House Speaker Boehner’s decision not to post the bill is a complete abdication of his responsibility as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The House Republican leadership has shown itself to be no better than a band of Keystone Cops and incapable of fulfilling one of its most basic responsibilities — to provide support and assistance to Americans in time of crisis. Following his failure to provide the leadership our country needed as we approached a fiscal cliff, it has become obvious that Speaker Boehner is not up to the responsibilities of his office and he should step aside.” TLS.

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12 COMMENTS

  1. Providing relief to the victims of Sandy, which impacted nearly a dozen states, is certainly something worthy of congressional action. The problem is the spending that isn’t directed toward recovery from that storm.

    As is their custom regardless of what they try to tell constituents, Democrat senators tossed in some expensive add-ons to guarantee passage of their measure. As far as we can tell, Alaska missed out on being hit by the storm, yet that state would be eligible for some of the $150 billion for replenishing fishery stocks. Amtrak would get $336 million. The West Coast would get $56 million to pay for cleaning up debris from the 2011 Japan tsunami. And while we are fans of the Smithsonian Institution, we don’t see where a $2 million appropriation for roof repairs fits into helping victims of Sandy recover.

    That’s not to say that those projects or others the Democratic leadership included are not worthy of federal funding — provisions such as $12.1 bill for transportation projects, $9.7 billion for the National Flood Insurance Program, $5.4 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers, $821 million for dredging projects, $58 million for U.S. Department of Agriculture reforestation projects and $50 million for the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund. But how is all of that emergency funding necessary to help victims of Sandy recover?

    By adding these spending provisions, the bill’s supporters can cloak them with a heart-felt plea that anyone who opposes this bill is a callous individual who has no compassion for the victims of Sandy.

    But the Republicans have seen through all the additional waste that the Dems included in the Sandy aid bill, and refuse to pass such an absolute waste of taxpayer hard-earned money.

    The Dems, of course, will convince the faint-hearted that the Republicans are mean-spirited, and the compliant media will play along. This is just one more example of why I feel this country is doomed. The people think and vote with their emotions, not with their brains.

  2. I must say I only recently started reading the TLS. What I find most fascinating are not only the stories but the comments. There are some incredibly naive, to say the least, unnecessary comments for sure, but I must admit, some comments are of a most fascinating nature.

  3. In a nutshell, the Dems took what should have been a simple bill to aid Sandy victims, and added on so much additional spending to it, that the actual Sandy Aid is a small fraction of the total cost of the bill.

    Republicans, of course, want to stop this crazy out of control spending on worthless special interest projects, so they aren’t so eager to pass this bill into law. Instead, they are trying to trim the excess fat.

    And along comes a Democrat and plays to everyone’s emotions, by saying, “See, the Republicans don’t care about Sandy victims. They aren’t ramming the bill through Congress.”

    And so many people fall for it, aided by the media. So many people think with their emotions, instead of using their brains.

  4. For those that cant read more then 2 lines, Yid is basically saying that there was loads of unrelated items in the “Sandy” bill. This is referrd to as “Pork” in congress. Pork are items thrown into spending and aid bills that are unrelated to the underlying premise.

  5. Thanks for clarifying that’s what I thought I understood. I’m happy at least one more person out there sees through their dirty tactics

  6. See today’s video of Christie, re this bill. He does not mention one word about waste, only of Bayner’s incommpetenace. There is overwelming Republican support ofr this bil ,despite the waste (which it indeed has, but so does most other bills. so this one is not the appropriateone to make your stand).

    Remeber, Obama offered a 4T “grand bargain” which Bayner refused. he had to protect the small group people/buisnesses making $250-$450k). he used all his leverage for that and got us zero cuts in return! He is incopetant! he lost the battle and we lost deficit reduction for the mealsy few people in that income range!

  7. This might be payback time to christie for going out of his way to get Obama reelected.The fact is he might deserve it but it is unfair to all those who are suffering.

  8. Yid you are not the man. You are part of the problem. You are bashing the Democrats and blaming them and you are out of line. The “sandy aid” was passes by both the Democrats and the REPUBLICANS in the Senate. Which means Republicans agreed with the amount of the bill. The house of representatives chose not to vote on it until the new congress was sworn in and that is the huge problem that most people are having with this situation. If you pay any attention to the news outside of the lkwd scoop then you would have seen that the Republicans were fighting amongst themselves because of the decision not to vote on the bill. If the amount of the bill was an issue they could have amended it but they didnt even give it a chance. That is why the REPUBLICAN governor or New Jersey and New York were very upset with the Republican speaker boehner. It was the house majority (Republicans) who chose not to vote on this matter and that was the issue.

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