Far-right House Republicans demand other spending cuts for Sandy relief

As predicted last week, when the Obama administration announced it was ready to submit its Sandy relief request, House Republicans are demanding spending cuts in return. The White House request was higher than originally reported, $60.4 billion, which is $22 billion below what the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut said the need from the federal government. Never mind that this request is lean, it's more than some Republicans can stand.

Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who sits on the Appropriations Committee said she will need to see offsets on Wednesday as did Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho).
'We have these emergencies every year and we should prepare for that in our budget,' Labrador said. [...]

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said he will be looking for offsets for at least some of the spending and indicated he is not comfortable with the White House request that state and local governments contribute less than 25 percent of the cost of repairs.

House leadership hasn't officially weighed in yet, having their hands full with other negotiations. The Senate is taking up the White House request as soon as this week. The House Appropriations chair, Hal Rogers (R-KY), says he's going to take his own sweet time, however, making sure that every single item in request is justified.

Take that, Chris Christie, for forgetting for the duration of the hurricane to be a hyper-partisan and for trying to be a good governor. Good luck getting any assistance from fellow Republicans now.

1:54 PM PT: That was fast.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday released a bill to pay for damage caused by October's Hurricane Sandy.

The bill would spend $60.4 billion, matching the amount requested by the Obama administration.

The bill is expected to come to the Senate floor on Thursday once the Senate finishes work on the Transaction Account Guarantee program extension and see votes next week.