A $60.4 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill was approved by the U.S. Senate Friday, New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg's office announced, putting it a House of Representatives passage away from reaching President Barack Obama's desk for certain signing.
The bill was crafted in part by Lautenberg, vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, and would primarily benefit New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The aid package, requested by Obama and championed by state officials, including Gov. Chris Christie, passed with bipartisan support in the Senate, 62-32.
Congress has yet to vote on the bill, though the Republican-controlled House has raised significant opposition to the aid package. At a recent town hall, Christie urged Congress to approve the aid bill as introduced so New Jersey, which suffered more than $37 billion in property damage during Hurricane Sandy, can get back to work rebuilding.
Congress has not set a timetable for voting on the Sandy Bill as debates continue on how to best address the upcoming fiscal cliff.
Lautenberg outlined some of the areas where funding would be allocated. In all, $17 billion would be used for Community Development Block Grants to be put toward rebuilding homes, buildings and public infrastructure. Another $12 billion would be used to rebuild and improve transportation and $5.3 billion would be put toward future flood mitigation.
The bill also allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay an additional $9.7 billion from the National Flood Insurance Program on accepted claims.
“This bill is a winner for New Jersey, and today’s Senate vote demonstrates national support for the recovery efforts in our state and throughout the region to rebuild after Superstorm Sandy,” Lautenberg said in a release.
“This emergency aid will go a long way to help New Jersey residents and businesses and strengthen our state’s beautiful shore and critical transportation network. The rebuilding period following a natural disaster is a critical time to build stronger and smarter, so that we can minimize the damage when the next storm strikes."
Im happy thanks for the concern just point out the hypocrisy of you republicon repukes who dont seem to have a problem invading Iraq based on lies or have a problem standing with your hand out or tax breaks for big oil and corp america but want to squeeze ppl on ss who by the way paid into it vic your one car accident away or one pink slip from being in the 47% now what did you christian conservatives learn in church today ? nothing
Mitt lost Bush invaded Iraq based on lies google Colin Powell How much of this was borrowed? All of it How about Ak ? you know there the bridge to no where is ? where ppl get a check for just living there? where the hypocrite nailin Palin lives? but you say continue to give corp welfare but cut senior citizen s benefits? let welfare ppl starve? what was the tax rate again under ST Ronnie? How about we cut the military budget and foreign aid? What is the status of your fema app? Mittens said fema is immoral Whats immoral is flood insurance when you have a flood and the insurance co wants to blame it on something else lol
any idea how much of the debt is based on Bushs 2 unfunded wars and medicare part d and tax cuts that didnt produce jobs plus the fact that republicon repukes are trying to bk SS and Medicare
long live corp america
I don't care about Mittens. Make fun all you want. The country is bankrupt and we just borrow more and more each day. 20 trillion plus trillions more each year and all you can do is post stupid comments all day long. Try reading a budget and you will see how broke we are. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/tables.pdf here's last month's financial report. 170B in debt. 1month. All on OBAMA. And that's with more tax revenues over last year. http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1112.pdf SPENDING IS THE PROBLEM! but hey who cares. borrow all we can I say. we ain't never payin back so whats the big deal. Just like all those deadbeat homeowners. Spend spend spend til your daddy takes your credit card away....(think beach boys music) Here's a question for ya...if Obamacare is so great, how come Obama and his family and congress aren't using it?
Didja know you cant build a road with out a permit or money?
is a guy who would gladly turn his brown blind eye to the fact that Bush started a war in iraq based on lies he supports things like the bridge to no where,vaginal probes,legit rape,magic underwear, the right to own a ar15 but wants his in the form of fema what was the tax rate under St Ronnie? wilson doesnt get the fact your only a car accident away or one pink slip away from having nothing
Does it make sense to build a thoroughfare thru a nature preserve? I think that is counterproductive to the intended use of the preserve. You can now take a quiet hike thru Corson’s Inlet State Park without bike riders whizzing thru. And how will that bike traffic NOT be disruptive to wildlife in the area?
You mention environmental opposition but not other bases for the opposition. 1st the environmental - the trail would cut though state-listed threatened and endangered species habitat and over critical and dwindling tidal salt water and freshwater wetlands. Other reasons for the opposition: there is already abundant access to the project area (the proposal is all that the park could come up with as part of a state-wide program - the park is small and has lots of trails now - this is the only conceivable new trail so is superfluous), those wetlands are adjacent to development so are especially vital to the role wetlands play in flood mitigation, the trailhead would require reserved parking in a neighborhood with a big parking problem in the summer. For all of these reasons the directly affected neighbors strongly oppose it as do the local and regional environmental communities.
I think you are a bit lost, when in the BRICK PATCH we speak of OC we mean Ocean County not Ocean City, so you must be from elsewhere and not one of our locals who would never make this mistake so kindly paddle your Eco Nazi CRAP in your own back yard!
Sincerely, Part-time resident---FULL TIME TAX PAYER!!!!!