The House of Representatives voted on Friday to provide about $9.7 billion in relief funding to victims of Superstorm Sandy.
The bill provides funding to the National Flood Insurance program by increasing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) borrowing authority. FEMA, which administers the program, had warned that it would run out of funding for Sandy relief next week. Most of the nearly $10 billion will go to Sandy disaster relief.
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The money will help homeowners whose houses were damaged and destroyed by flooding during the storm. Many communities, especially those along the New Jersey coastline, were decimated by the intense rain and floodwater brought on by Sandy.
The House is expected to take up additional relief packages on January 15. If those pass, total relief will amount to about $60 billion. Any legislation will also have to go the Senate for approval.
The Senate passed one $60 billion bill at the end of the last session of Congress, but House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the man in charge of the House schedule, declined to place a Sandy relief vote on the schedule. Legislation does not carry over to the new session of Congress, which began on Thursday, meaning any relief bill will have to be reintroduced in the Senate.
The failure to take up Sandy relief during the last Congress drew immediate fire from Republicans and Democrats alike, and New York and New Jersey lawmakers took the opportunity during Friday’s House deliberations to reiterate their disappointment.
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-New York) and others from the region criticized the bill for being incomplete.
