(CNN) -- After a firestorm of criticism from Northeast Republicans, the House of Representatives is expected to take up an aid package on Friday meant to address those still reeling in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.
Lawmakers will consider
$9 billion in immediate assistance for flood insurance and will weigh
another $51 billion in broader aid on January 15.
"We're getting what New
York and New Jersey need, and that's all that counts," Rep. Peter King,
R-New York, told reporters after emerging from a 20-minute meeting with
House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. "We're
all big boys. We understand that all that counts is the bottom line."
That point was
underscored Wednesday, when House leaders met with irate representatives
from New York and New Jersey who felt they had been ignored by Boehner
when he scrapped a planned vote late Tuesday on the full aid package.
The Senate, which had
already approved the larger Sandy plan that the House refused to
consider, is expected to sign off on the scaled-back version on Friday
as well, according to a Democratic leadership aide.
Senators will hold off on any further action, however.
"On the second tranche,
we will need to see more details before we decide how to proceed," the
aide said. "As the Senate has shown by passing our bipartisan bill, we
consider getting aid to the victims of Sandy a superlative priority, but
we need to know more about the contents of the bill before deciding on a
path forward."
Democrats were less mollified.
"It's really unbelievable
how Speaker Boehner and his party could just walk away," said Christine
Quinn, speaker of the New York City Council. "To promise us a vote
weeks from now? Why should we believe him at all? It's just shocking."
In a statement, Boehner
and Cantor said "critical aid" to storm victims should be the first
priority of the new Congress, which convened on Thursday.
The comity contrasted
sharply with outrage that had exploded earlier in the day over
congressional inaction on the package, pitting even fellow Republicans
against Boehner.
It was "disappointing
and disgusting to watch," said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, blaming
"the toxic internal politics of the House majority."
"New Jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw on display," he said, adding, "shame on Congress."
Christie, a Republican, said he had tried to reach Boehner on Tuesday night after a vote on the aid bill was shelved.
"He did not take my calls," Christie said.
At a news conference,
Christie said he joined people of his state in feeling "betrayed" and
added that the move summarizes "why the American people hate Congress."
In a statement, Christie
and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote: "This failure to come to the aid
of Americans following a severe and devastating natural disaster is
unprecedented. The fact that days continue to go by while people suffer,
families are out of their homes, and men and women remain jobless and
struggling during these harsh winter months is a dereliction of duty."
GOP leadership sources
said Boehner was worried that it would be a bad political move for him
to allow a vote on new federal spending after House Republicans spent
the first part of the week criticizing him for not wringing substantial
spending cuts in the fiscal cliff bill.
Additional pressure on
Boehner came from Republicans who criticized proposed congressional
"pork" spending in the bill that was unrelated to Sandy needs.
Civility was eventually restored.
"As far as I'm
concerned, that was a lifetime ago," King said. "The bottom line is
we're going forward getting what we believe is necessary."
King previously had
slammed his own party. "The Republican Party has said it's the party of
'family values.' Last night, it turned its back on the most essential
value of all, and that's to provide food, shelter, clothing and relief
for people who have been hit by a natural disaster," King told CNN.
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