[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 173 (Wednesday, January 2, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H7569]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HURRICANE SANDY RELIEF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Nadler) for 3 minutes.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, sometimes events occur that are so out of 
the ordinary, so unusual as to defy belief. Such is the decision of the 
Speaker last night not to permit this House to vote on relief aid for 
the three States and some other areas that were devastated by Hurricane 
Sandy.
  I have been in this House for 20 years. There have been many 
disasters--floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires. In 
every single instance, this House has voted aid for the necessary 
States; in every single instance, usually within a week or 2. Never 
more than 3. It has now been 9 weeks since October 29 when Hurricane 
Sandy devastated three States and parts of more--9 weeks.
  The Senate passed a bill to aid us. The House was ready. The bill was 
prepared and an amendment was prepared. We were assured the bill would 
be on the floor last night or today. At the last minute the Speaker, 
without even talking to Republicans, not to mention Democrats from New 
York, refusing to meet with them, suddenly pulled the bill and said we 
wouldn't have a vote; as if the people in New York and Connecticut and 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey are not in need of aid; as if thousands of 
people are still not without heat, without water--as if thousands of 
small businesses don't need loans and aid so that they don't go under; 
as if thousands of people don't need help to rebuild their homes, to 
clear the trash from their properties; as if hundreds of municipalities 
don't need aid to finance this activity, having used up all their 
budgets for that purpose.
  We're told by the chairman of the Appropriations Committee we'll get 
a bill on the floor later this month in the next Congress. It's already 
9 weeks. It's already an unprecedented length of time. And why? Are New 
Yorkers and Pennsylvanians and Connecticut residents and New Jersey 
residents less American than the people that we aid in the Midwest and 
the South when we vote for aid for those people because they are the 
victims of natural disasters? How can we treat an entire region of the 
country this way? It is the most disgraceful action I've seen in this 
House in the 20 years I've been here.
  I see that we're told that, well, FEMA still has money until March. 
But it's not just FEMA; it's the Small Business Administration that 
needs the appropriation now to help small businesses now; it's the Army 
Corps of Engineers that needs the authorization, the appropriation now 
to help the people who are victimized.
  There is no excuse for this, none. It is a betrayal of the people of 
those States. It is a betrayal of the people of the United States. It 
is a betrayal by the Speaker personally of the Members of this House 
not to permit a vote. I have never seen an action like it. I hope I 
never see it again.
  I urge the Speaker to reconsider and to rectify this decision today, 
because today is the deadline to avert going down in history as 
shameful.

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