December 17, 2012 — Democrats on Monday began trying to push $60.4 billion in emergency spending for Superstorm Sandy victims through Congress by Christmas. Republicans responded: Not so fast.
The Senate opened debate on the aid measure seven weeks after the storm swept up the East Coast, causing extensive damage in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and killing more than 120 people.
Several Republicans say they're sympathetic to Sandy victims, but they favor a smaller aid package for the moment and suggest cutting other federal programs to pay for parts of it. They say some measures in the bill — including money for salmon fisheries in Alaska, new government cars and an Amtrak expansion project — smack more of congressional pork than disaster aid.
GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma released a list of what they called "questionable" spending in the bill, including $5.3 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers with no statement of priorities about how to spend the money, $125 million for the Department of Agriculture's emergency program for restoring watersheds damaged by wildfires and drought, and $50 million in subsidies for tree planting on private properties.
"Americans impacted by Hurricane Sandy deserve better than this," they said in a joint statement.
Read the full story on ABC News