President Obama has asked Congress on Friday to approve a $60.4 billion aid package to help East Coast states rebuild after Superstorm Sandy.
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Reuters reports:
Officials from storm-battered New York, New Jersey and Connecticut had said they needed at least $82 billion combined to make emergency repairs and upgrade infrastructure.
New York and New Jersey lawmakers said they expect Obama will seek more aid as the extent of Sandy’s damage becomes clearer. The two states were hit the hardest by the storm, which made landfall in New Jersey on October 29.
Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey say:
“This supplemental is a very good start, and while $60 billion doesn’t cover all of New York and New Jersey’s needs, it covers a large percentage,”
Lawmakers are trying to avert the year-end “fiscal cliff” of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that amount to a total of $600 billion.
This week, Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Craig Fugate told lawmakers that the FEMA disaster relief fund was down to less than $5 billion and would run out by early spring at the current pace of disbursements.
Hopefully Obama’s request is fulfilled and te East Coast can fully recover.
SOURCE: Reuters
