Nearly a month after the outrage against the Congress for failing to pass a Hurricane Sandy relief package, and three months after the hurricane itself, Congress finally passes a bill. $50 billion dollars have been allocated to help the states affected by this disaster.
There was debate from Republicans over how this would add to the national debt, but the Senate managed to pass it with 62-36 vote, after clearing the House. Fox news reports that all 36 votes against the bill were from Republican senators. An amendment to pay for the relief bill through more cuts was rejected.
The hurricane caused New York and New Jersey $42 and $37 billion dollar respectively. With the relief bill, the largest amount of money is allocated towards Housing and Urban Development by way of block grants. $10 billion dollars have been allocated for the purpose of repairing transport systems alone.
Read more here here and here.
While it is a little ridiculous that a relief package hadn't been provided much earlier, it is good to hear that they have finally gone forward with this measure. Despite Republican opposition, things have pulled through and the affected states can now truly be on a road to recovery.
There was debate from Republicans over how this would add to the national debt, but the Senate managed to pass it with 62-36 vote, after clearing the House. Fox news reports that all 36 votes against the bill were from Republican senators. An amendment to pay for the relief bill through more cuts was rejected.The hurricane caused New York and New Jersey $42 and $37 billion dollar respectively. With the relief bill, the largest amount of money is allocated towards Housing and Urban Development by way of block grants. $10 billion dollars have been allocated for the purpose of repairing transport systems alone.
Read more here here and here.
While it is a little ridiculous that a relief package hadn't been provided much earlier, it is good to hear that they have finally gone forward with this measure. Despite Republican opposition, things have pulled through and the affected states can now truly be on a road to recovery.
2 comments:
While the government's response to Sandy may be slightly late, it's still vastly superior to the response to Katrina. Still, Sandy seems to have once again exposed the inefficiency of our government, especially in times of crisis. In my opinion, it simply takes far too long for any meaningful legislation to be passed through both houses of Congress. Unfortunately, however, I sincerely doubt any changes to our legislative branch will happen anytime soon.
Although I am skeptical as to whether or not the country can really afford this, I think that it is for the best that this measure was passed, and I certainly feel that it is a much better use of money than some other things that receive governmental funding. The people affected deserve to be assisted--Hurricane Sandy was tragic and there is no way that all of the victims can get back on their feet alone.
I agree with Garrett--it's really unfortunate that these disasters aren't dealt with with more immediacy, since right after the fact is when people need help the most.
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