[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18666]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HURRICANE SANDY RELIEF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New York (Mrs. Maloney) for 2\1/2\ minutes.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, this kind of petty partisan posturing is 
absolutely disgraceful. It's an act of spiteful indifference that will 
go down in history as a low point in a low era. Shame on this House. 
This House acted quickly after Katrina, voting over $60 billion in less 
than 2 weeks. It acted quickly for Ike and Gustav and the tornadoes in 
Alabama. We were there for other regions of this country. This country 
has to be there for the Northeast. Twenty-four States were affected. It 
has been called the second-worst natural disaster in the history of our 
country, affecting over 17 million people in the most densely populated 
area of America.
  We cannot turn our backs on this entire region. Every Governor, every 
mayor has talked to the Republican leadership. They were assured the 
money would be there. We cannot rebuild or start to repair without the 
resources being in place.
  The Northeast are donor States. We give far more to the Federal 
Government in taxes than what comes back to us. Yet when the natural 
disaster struck our people, we lost lives. We lost businesses, homes, 
complete devastation of the largest subway system in our country, 
moving 8 million people a day. Where is the aid and where is the 
support?
  Mr. Speaker, introduce the Senate bill tomorrow. Let's come back into 
session, vote it on Friday. Let's put the aid in place, the American 
way of being there to help people. You can't pick and choose that 
certain areas get disaster relief, but the area that is the most hard-
hit in the history of our country does not receive the relief? The 
disaster aid that has been there for other people? We have been there 
for you. You need to be there for the Northeast. It is devastated. We 
need Federal aid. You cannot repair hospitals, subway systems, major 
infrastructures without the support of the Federal Government.
  Mr. Speaker, do not turn your back on America and a region of 
America. You need to support in a bipartisan way the aid that is so 
desperately needed for the most densely populated area of our country 
after the second-worst storm in the history of our country.

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