Nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com reports that...
President Barack Obama requested Friday that Congress authorize $60.4 billion in emergency spending to help the states hit by the supers-storm Sandy in late October. A House Democratic aide told NBC News that they “even though it’s reasonable, we don’t expect Republicans to just hand it over. We’re going to have to fight for it.” Some congressional Republicans have said that the money spent on Sandy ought to be offset with spending cuts in other parts of the federal budget; most Democrats do not seek offsets. In a joint statement, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., co-chairs of the bipartisan congressional task force on recovering from Tropical Sandy, praised Obama’s request. “While more may be needed in the long term, this robust package is a major first step that we will work to pass as quickly as possible in Congress to help devastated communities, families and businesses.”
