everyone had seen clearly the damage that was caused. don't tell me that the house is not taking up the bill. don't tell me that the leadership and the governors of new york and the governor of new jersey and the governor of connecticut and the mayor of new york and mayor bloomberg and others have immediately address the needs to the extent possible by them have addressed the needs very carefully as to what federal participation was needed. don't tell me that the house of

representatives is going to ignore that mr. speaker, much has been said about the need for more civility in politics and government. that stability reflects to how we speak to each other and how -- and their enthusiasm about the issues we care a great deal about. the real stability that people expect is how this congress treats them and treat their needs and never is that tested more clearly than in a time of a natural disaster. that is when people feel the most helpless .

by and large, it is a long road back but those first few steps like emergency relief that was provided by law -- by the localities must be compensated for. the next stage of recovery is so essential to the character of a community. after the storms last year, it affected the characters of the communities and his district and that was 2011 and here we are at the end of 2012 having some of the same hits by nature with the severity, the power of water and in some places fire earth, wind, fire and how it affects people. nature pulled the rug out from people, literally and figuratively, in their communities and homes, in their schools, and in their workplaces. are we to say to them now

congress is going to pull the rug out from under you in terms of your hopes and expectations? tell me that. we cannot tell our constituents that would not rise to the level of civility. for us to turn our backs and ignore their needs. it is just plain wrong. i am hopeful that those making these decisions have not been affected by almost every place like katrina or california with earthquakes and droughts and floods, you name it, with the ne being hit twice with in 2011- 2012, missouri, i visited iowa and florida and inspected the floods and they were devastated. it is hard unless you see it to understand the impact it has. the most compelling reason is

the look in the eyes of people who asked --"what are we going to do to help?" what is the answer? is it not a prayer -- priority? let's honor our responsibilities which is the place where people place their trust. they don't like government and they don't want this or that but in a time like this, in a time of emergency, this is when we put -- prove our worth. let prove our worth and urged the speaker to bring this legislation to the floor, quickly dealt with while the senate is still there and return to the president for his signature and hope we can flow from here instead of a sense of wonderment, don't tell me that. let us be able to tell the people that we feel their pain and we know what they're going through. we can never really know.

we can never really know what we can certainly appreciate their interest in an hour doing what is right for them. again, i hope and pray, really hope and pray, we pray for these people, we pray for them and in our prayers we pray for the ones who have lost loved ones. what will it take for this congress to find it in their hearts and in their heads to do the right thing? let's pray that we don't have to tell them that we were not there for them. new >> jersey governor chris christie was also critical of the house leadership. he spoke with reporters several hours before john boehner said there be a vote for hurricane victims this friday and another one on the 15th. >> good afternoon. when hurricane hugo made landfall on august 24, 1992, congress and president bush 41 responded within 31 days with a federal aid package.

when hurricane gustav made landfall in 2008 and hurricane ike 12 days later, congress and president bush 43 responded in 17 days with a federal aid package. when hurricane katrina made landfall on august 29, 2005, congress and president bush 43 responded with an initial $62.3 billion aid package in 10 days. hurricane sandy made landfall in new jersey on october 29, 2012, 66 days ago. and our state alone, 3636 homes were damaged or destroyed. -- 346,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. seven million were out power. 600 state roads were closed. 127 shelters, evacuated citizens, mass transit was closed.

all new jersey schools were closed, some for weeks. tens of thousands of businesses were damaged or destroyed with many still closed. our jersey shore was devastated with the loss of homes, public buildings and iconic symbols of new jersey culture and economic vitality destroyed. tens of thousands of our citizens enter 2013, unsure of their future as they spent the holiday season displaced from all that was familiar and comforting. 31 days for andrew victims. 17 days for victims of gustav and ike, 10 days for victims of katrina, for the victims of sand via in new jersey, new york and connecticut, this is 66 days and the wait continues. there is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims, the house majority and

their speaker, john boehner. this is not a republican or a democratic issue. national disasters happen in red states and blue states and states with democratic governors and republican governors. we respond to innocent victims of natural disasters, not as republicans or democrats, but as americans. or at least we did until last night. last night, politics was placed before our oath to serve our citizens. for me, it was disappointing and disgusting to watch. on january 19, 2010, i took an oath to serve all the people of new jersey without regard to race, ethnicity, gender affiliation and i have worked as hard as i could to be loyal to that oath whether under the pressure of dealing with the legislature of the opposite party or the scrutiny of a

hotly contested election, i have always put the people of new jersey in my oath ahead of petty, personal politics. last night, the house of representatives failed. that most basic test of public service and they did so with callous indifference to the suffering of the people of my state. if you want an example of how nonpartisan this issue should have been, i offer this for your consideration. near midnight last night, conservative congressman chris smith of new jersey and former speaker nancy pelosi of california both spoke on the floor in concert with each other and in support of this aid package. one for the record books, i suspect. on the equities, this should be a no-brainer for the house republicans as well. new york and new jersey used the international firm of makensey and company to quantify the damage to our state and our

professional staff have spent countless hours to congressional staff providing backup documentation for all the damage claims. governor cuomo and i have spent hours and hours speaking to individual members of the house and senate to answer their questions. we worked with president obama and his administration and satisfied them of the urgent need of the $60 billion aid package. this was good enough for 62 united states senators of both parties to vote for this package. this was good enough for a majority of the house of representatives. it overcame all the factual challenges but could not overcome the toxic, internal politics of the house majority. finally, new jersey and new york are among the most generous states in the nation to our fellow states. we vote for disaster relief for other states in need. we are donor states, sending much more to washington, d.c.,

than we ever get back in federal spending. despite this history in our hour of desperate need, we have been left waiting for help six times longer than the victims of katrina, with no end in sight. americans are tired of the intrigue and political partisanship of this congress which places one upmanship who sent these people to washington, d.c., in the first place. the people of new york and new jersey are tired of being treated like second-class citizens. new york does better than the selfishness we saw on display last night. new jersey deserves better than what we saw last night. america deserves better than just another example of a government that has forgotten who they are there to serve and why.

66 days and counting. shame on you. shame on congress. despite my anger and disappointment, my hope is that the good people in congress, and there are good people in congress, will prevail upon their colleagues to finally, finally put aside the politics and help our people now. haves the only hope we left, is for the good people to prevail upon the others. one thing i can assure the people of this region is this, governor cuomo and i will not stop fighting together to see that justice is done and our citizens' suffering is finally addressed by this congress. questions? matt? \[inaudible question]

>> listen, it's hard for me from this distance to speculate about the specifics of what caused this. all i can say is this, we were given assurances by everyone, myself and governor cuomo, over the weekend that this was going to be done. we got continued assurances as late as last night at 9:00 that as soon as the vote on the fiscal cliff was over that the rule would be discussed on the aid package. it's hard for me to tell. this was the speaker's -- his alone. and i can tell you our representatives down in congress on both sides of the aisle both in new york and new jersey were working with unrivaled bipartisan together. as to who i have spoken to, the president called me earlier today to assure me of his

continued support and will be a priority for the administration. i spoke to majority leader cantor earlier today. i have to tell you that eric was working as hard as he could to get this done for us through the weekend and early part of this week and i had a conversation with the speaker this morning where he informed me he will be meeting this afternoon with members of the new jersey and new york delegation from the republican party. so to what's gone on, you have seen a lot of palace intrigue and folks are putting politics ahead of their responsibilities. i understand it's challenging as a politician to stop playing politics, but we have jobs to do. and i have been confronted with this situation a number of times. you do the right thing. it's for the people who sent

you there. enough with all the politics. michael? \[inaudible question] >> you have to ask them. i was given no explanation. i was given no explanation. i was called at 11:20 last night by leader cantor and told that authority for the vote was pulled by the speaker. and our delegation asked for a meeting with the speaker and were refused. i called the speaker four times last night after 11:20 and he did not take my calls, so you have to ask the speaker. \[inaudible question] -- >> what are the real consequences of this? >> every day that we don't begin

to get this aid are days that we can't help people get back in their homes and businesses reopened and get our economy moving. those are the real consequences. people not having the ability to plan their future. it's absolutely disgraceful. and i have to tell you, this used to be something that was not political. you know, disaster relief is something you didn't play games with. but now in this current atmosphere, everything is the subject of one-upmanship. and it is why the american people hate congress, it's why they hate them. and governor cuomo and iras frustrated as two people can be, unlike members of congress, we have responsibilities and we have the responsibility to make things happen.

\[inaudible question] >> i doubt it. i think most people have gone home. brian? \[inaudible question] >> be happy to pay for it tomorrow for a hamburger today. i was being assured that this was going to be done. and i spoke to members from all over the country. i spent most of new year's eve and new year's day with members of congress soliciting their support and vote for this package. i'm not going to get into the

specifics of what i discussed with john boehner today, but what i will tell you is, there is no reason to believe anything they tell me. because they have been telling me stuff for weeks and they didn't deliver. and it's an appropriate time for me to say, i have to give real credit to senator menendez, who worked extraordinarily hard in making this happen and he deserves great credit for it. and to give real credit to both the republican and democratic delegations in the house. they worked seamlessly together. i was on the phone with congressman frelinghuysen and congressman pallone who were taking the lead on this and they all worked tirelessly on this. so they deserve great credit. it ain't done until it's done.

and we learned that at 11:20 last night that we were assured that it was going to happen. that's the difference, brian. if it gets done in a couple of weeks, again, every day that goes by drk talk to the people down at union peach, talk to the folks at tom's river. ask them another two weeks matters to them in their lives. those are the people that i'm concerned about and those are the people i care about not the politicians in washington, d.c., who will say whatever they need to say to get through the next day. \[inaudible question] >> yes. and they should is, too. all i can tell them is what i said at the end here, governor cuomo and i are not wallflowers or shrinking violets and we have resources at our disposal, too.

and we will work together and fight together to make sure that this happens. and i still believe it will happen, because i believe there are more good people in congress than bad and eventually this will happen. if the people of new jersey feel betrayed today by those who did this in the house last night, then they have good company. i'm with them. \[inaudible question] >> i'm exercising one of them right now. matt. \[inaudible question] >> none that i have been made aware of by counsel's office or the attorney general at this point. \[inaudible question]

>> i think you have to be a little more specific because there have been some people who have been extraordinarily helpful. certainly at the moment, i wouldn't be looking to do much for house leadership. \[inaudible question] >> as long as it totals 60, i don't care how they split it up. that was an effort by cantor and frelinghuysen who took the co-lead to come up with something that would pass. there were many people in the republican caucus, a majority or more that would vote for the $27 billion and splitting it

up, they would give, along with the democratic votes, they would get to the majority of the house. that was the strategy that leader cantor and congressman frelinghuysen came up with. and given what i heard from leaders in the democratic party in the house and republican members, i'm confident that the bill would have passed. >> would you take the $60 billion today? -- >> $27 billion today? >> no. \[inaudible question] >> completely ridiculous. \[inaudible question] >> we sent a ton of information, leader cantor who is not known as a spendthrift was leading the way. there who read something out of the ap about the stuff that was put in there by the senate and all of a sudden says this is a

pork package. they should spend time reading information and less time reading their political talking points by their staff and they know who they are. \[inaudible question] >> too early to tell. \[inaudible question] >> again, congress controls its own calendar, this much we know. the president is ready, willing and able to sign this. we have a majority in the united states senate, both republicans and democrats who were favorably disposed to the $60 billion package and a majority of the house of representatives but it's up to the speaker. because it was his decision to stop it. \[inaudible question]

>> that's the point i was trying to make in response to brian's question, you know, there's always something down there. they are always bickering down there and not getting anything done. what's the next one down there? we have work to do here. and new jersey and new york have stood up every time to louisiana, alabama, florida, mississippi, missouri, alabama have needed aid for disasters. new jersey and new york's representatives regardless of party have stood up for them. it's now time for them to stand up for this region of the country as well. this should not be subject to politics. this is a basic function of government. and yeah i'm concerned about it, because every day it

doesn't happen is a day it doesn't happen. i can't take anybody's assurances anymore. \[inaudible question] >> my understanding is that the flood insurance program will run out of money next week if not refinanced by congress. and so the speaker's irresponsible action in not moving on anything at least appears from the information i have been given will leave the flood insurance program broke by the end of next week. \[inaudible question] >> i'm not concerned about that, but more the indecision that's the problem.

we found in nondisaster-related times, the fact is they couldn't make a decision. so businesses sat for months and months and months waiting to be made. sitting on the governor's desk -- you know, we have wiped away a lot of that indecision in this administration. indecision is crippling the business decision. so if we can't act decisively, they won't. or worse yet, act indecisively somewhere else. so it's a concern. michael? \[inaudible question] >> i have not yet been given an assurance from anyone that is credible with me about that.

\[inaudible question] >> listen, this is unfortunate. toxic politics of congress right now. they can't even agree with each other. for somebody who has a real job to do here, you know, who is held responsible for the lives and health and safety of people in this state, it is extraordinarily frustrating to me that we've got people down there who use the citizens of this country like pawns on a chest board. that's the way the citizens of new york and new jersey were treated last night. pawns on a chest board, our people were played last night as a pawn. and that's why people hate washington d.c. and hate politics. last night it was my party

responsible. last night, my party was responsible for this. matt? \[inaudible question] >> i'm not a member of the house, i don't get a vote. i don't care. \[inaudible question] >> i don't know. i hope not. i hope that we're not really believing that people who live in new york and new jersey are second-class citizens given the fact that we contribute so much more to the operation of the federal government than we ever get back in return. there is a regional bias, it should be in our favor when we finally have a problem. but i can tell you this, a lot of our support for the $60 billion came from members in places like louisiana, alabama, florida, who have been through this, california, and who know

how difficult this is. support from iowa as well. folks who have been through major disasters and know you don't play games with this. apparently that was ripped out of the house leadership manual for last night. \[inaudible question] >> i don't think i have anything to do with this, guys. internal house politics. i don't think i have anything to do with it. \[inaudible question] >> yes, i was. \[inaudible question] >> maybe 30, maybe between 30 and 40. \[inaudible question]

>> no one is beyond redemption. do your job. and come through for the people of this country as a national leader the way you should and i'll be fine. everybody makes mistakes. last night was a big mistake. he hasn't lost all credibility with me but right now, but i think what happened last night was absolutely uncalled for and i have been given no credible explanation as to why. but, again, he's the speaker of the house and tomorrow's another day. so, you know, he can prove to me that he really does care about the people of new york and new jersey by getting this package done \[inaudible question] >> the only discussion was the $400 million or so that was put into the bill by the senate for non-sandy-related stuff,

fisheries, something in alaska and colorado and a roof on the smithsonian. there were a couple of things like that. but other than that -- now, there are some who have a philosophical point of view that some of the things in the package should never be related to disaster relief. they questioned the sill philosophical approach. no one has said our numbers are wrong, bad, inflated or cooked or anything like that. \[inaudible question] >> get the package done. i don't think it's possible to get it done in this congress. the information i'm getting from our members, members who have retired are gone. so you may not have enough

people in the capitol at this moment to get it done. i don't know. listen, if that were possible, i would love to have it done today concurred with by the senate tomorrow and have this over with, but i'm hoping this gets put on a fast track to getting done as quickly as possible. you heard the numbers. you know, 10 days on katrina, 17 days on ike and gustav and 31 days on andrew. by those days, they had their money in hand. this is 66 days and counting. it's unprecedented and outrageous. they are all so caught up in this politics of this fake fiscal cliff and so consumed by their own palace intrigue between the house of representatives, the white house, senate, this house, versus this group of house republicans that they forget we sent them there.

we sent them there to do the work for us. not sit down there and play with each other and that's what they're doing. this thing has been -- the president sent this three weeks ago. fully vetted by o.m.b. three weeks ago. no reason for this bill to be sitting ruined and didn't do it with anyone else and i believe it's not a regional thing. i believe it's the fact that they are so consumed with their own internal politics that they have forgotten that they have a job to do. it's not all playing to you guys. they have a job to do. when you're governor, you never forget that. governor cuomo and i don't have that luxury. matt? \[inaudible question] >> no.

no. no. no. no. no this is internal -- i'm telling you, matt, this is internal politics, that's what it is. charlie? \[inaudible question] >> i'm dealing with the tea party, next. no. no. charlie -- charlie, i'm off it. you hear my answer to him. why would my answer to you be any different? next question. come up with something else. next question. \[inaudible question] >> listen, our ability to be able to help small businesses on the shore and elsewhere get up and running, huge difference, help people get back in their homes, huge difference, to know we can rebuild the beaches and make the inland areas safe and safe to rebuild in these towns, these are all

real life things. what happened to the infrastructure, new jersey transit, utilities and others. these are things that need to be decided. are they going to be paid by rate pairs? these are things that need to be decided, but none of these decisions can be made until we know what role the federal government is going to play in this and that delays people's return to complete normalcy. that is my role as governor to complete them to normalcy. they impede my ability to do that. and that's incredibly frustrating, because it's hard enough to do this even if everything was working well, even if they acted in 17 days, 10 days or 31 days, it would still be difficult to do that. and so when they continue to delay this long with no end in sight, it becomes even more challenging and more discouraging.

i really don't, i would just be guessing. every day that goes by is a wasted day. it's a wasted day when we can't do things. \[inaudible question] >> steve probably should have left the last sentence off, he would have been bretter -- better off. \[inaudible question] >> we'll see. primaries are an ugly thing. yes. \[inaudible question]

>> people understand that mitigation in new jersey is somewhat of a different issue when you talk about the shoreline. if the rebuilding of the beach mitigation or is it restoration? it depends on in the eyes of the beholder but you can't responsibly rebuild unless and until you know that you are going to have a barrier at the beach and then how high do you build, how far back do you build. that is dependent upon what the shoreline looks like. that may be mitigation but to me it is restoration to what it was before so you can make investment decisions on how to rebuild private property and

governmental property. luke? \[inaudible question] >> neither am i, obviously. \[inaudible question] >> i hope whatever they wanted to achieve amongst each other they acheeved so i can move on to business. if one set of republicans was trying to prove another thing. if the speaker was trying to prove something, i hope he achieved it. i hoped they accomplished it so we can move on to business. there were no -- to this moment, there has been no substantive reason given to me as to why and certainly not by the decision makers. bob. \[inaudible question]

>> really? is that what you call it? a huge epic battle? \[inaudible question] >> i'm not here as a political pundit to analyze that stuff for you guys. get somebody else to do it. all i know is i was given assurance that the fiscal cliff battle was going on and i was given assurance at 9:00 that it wasn't lost upon them that the epic battle had been engaged. i can't tell you why, bob, i don't know. you have this fascination with the tea party. i'm not going to be a pundit for you guys. my job is to tell you what i know and the facts that i know. yes, ma'am?

\[inaudible question] >> i can't understand it. that's all i can conclude is that they were trying to do because there were no substantive reasons for the action, so i have to believe there were political reasons for the action. i didn't create it. why is it? people who compete with each other power generally fight well doing it. nothing new. brian? i'm not going to talk about my conversation with the speaker today. i have said that no one has given me a substantive, credible reason for it not being done today. i'm not going to discuss the specifics of my conversation with the speaker because i would like to have conversations with the speaker in the future. and if i talk about everything

i talked about, i suspect as would happen with me if i start having private conversations with folks and someone characterizes, probably the last time they are going to talk to me. if i do my job the right way, i have to be smart about this. charlie? \[inaudible question] >> sure, vote no. vote no. majority rules. if they want to vote no, vote no. to not saying someone has vote our way, i think they should, but i'm not saying they have to. what happened yesterday, it wasn't even allowed to happen. if you're down there playing games, not moving things along, not making decisions, yes or no, you're not doing your job.

when you sit around and delay and give assurances to people that it will be done and it's not done, that's not doing your job. put it up, vote yes or new york move on. this is like the people we have down the hall with the senate democrats who don't want to have up or down votes on supreme court justices, prosecutors, all these other people because what they know is they don't have any substantive reason to oppose those people. the same way most of these folks didn't have any substantive way to oppose this. that's the problem. \[inaudible] >> absolutely support the leadership. i don't believe that's what the report said. i mean, i think you've guilded

that report up pretty well in the leadup to your question. i don't think that's what the report said. i think these guys made the best decisions they could in the circumstances. once you see the yard is flooded, you can say, they would have move -- they should've moved the trains. if they had known it was going to flood, they would've moved the trains. he made the best decisions he could at the time. sometimes people make wrong decisions. it happens. it's not a hanging offense. questions? all right. thank you all very much. members of the new york and new jersey delegation met with speaker boehner wednesday

afternoon and spoke with reporters for 10 minutes. >> a very productive and positive meeting with the speaker john boehner. we have been assured the first installment will be $9 billion in flood insurance put on the calendar. the remaining $51 billion will be voted on. this is basically the same we were promised yesterday. this is the package we were looking for. the bottom line is between friday morning and january 15, the two votes will bring -- it's absolutely necessary. -- $60 billion which is absolutely necessary to new york, new jersey, and

connecticut. extremely positive news. >> $9 billion this friday? >> $9 billion on flood insurance friday. january 15, an additional $61 billion will be voted on. -- an additional $51 billion will be voted on. that will come to a total of $60 billion. >> did the speaker explain why he put it off? it is in the past. that was his decision and we disagree with it. that is in the past. all we care about is my constituents. i take him at his word. it is a question of the timetable.

$9 billion, then we have to introduce a bill and start all over. that will be done on one day on january 15. one thing at a time. my job is the house. it should be fully resolved in the house on january 15. >> will you vote for john boehner? you were extremely critical of the speaker of the house. will you vote for him? >> yes, i will. >> are you satisfied? >> this procedure that is laid out is fully satisfactory. it will give us the full $60 billion. so yes. >> this was a case where a very unified new york and new jersey

delegation kept making cases as to why the $60 billion is critical. the speaker opened up the meeting by saying it will happen on january 15. the flood insurance will come up on friday. we have had unprecedented solidarity. we have made our case. we have read the information that came down from governor christie. line by line. this is all about people who have lost their homes, businesses, and 100,000 new jersey people have filed for insurance. it is a devastation the likes of which we have never seen in our part of the country. we do have support. the amendment for the $33

billion. it might be different. it will get us to the $60 billion. it will be a two-step process. >> i will be offering $33 billion, which will make the $60 billion. the assurances we had are ironclad. this recognizes the heartache and misery both of our states and the region has suffered. governor christie emphasized in his press conference, it has been 66 days. this time congress responded. i am pleased we were listened

to. >> line not vote on the senate bill and have it done today? >> that was our hope. it will happen at the amount we think is required to meet the legitimate needs. >> did the speaker tell you the reason? >> he alluded to the fact there was so much going on but did not give us specifics. for us, it is about getting critical aid to those suffering. i have never seen devastation like this. you know how bad it is. this money is needed to rebuild and provide recovery that will get us to the next stage.

boehner tomorrow? >> yes. >> absolutely. i will vote for speaker boehner. i wanted a moment to look in the eyes and shake hands with the speaker and erick kanter. both of them shook my hand and gave me their word this vote will go forward as planned. and that they will be there for us. i want to emphasize the one thing that has been getting lost here. i have had discussions with speaker boehner for almost nine weeks now about the sandy disaster and the people in need. i never questioned where his heart was. he wants to help the people of new york and new jersey. delay the vote.

i do not support it at all. i do not think it was the right call. i do not think he does not want to help. it was because of the timing issue. it was never because he does not want to help new york or new jersey. i want to make that clear. that was never in question. i disagree with the vote. i think we all did. we have to do the very next best thing, which is not waste any more time. we have that commitment. i stayed behind to make sure i personally got it. that is good enough for michael. grimm. >> whatever it was, what is done is done. that is it. we are getting what new york, new jersey needed. >> did the speaker say anything about governor chris christie's comments?

>> no. we are big boys and we understand that. the bottom line is we give the majority of leader time. >> you were at the meetings the republicans had yesterday about the fiscal cliff. too much spending in the governments and the fact that there should be spending cuts. do you understand politically why the house speaker, after making the decision he did? >> he had to make a decision. we disagreed. that was a lifetime ago as far as i am concerned. the bottom line is we are going forward, getting what we believe is necessary. there is no reason to question what happened before. we got individual commitment.

that is all. as long as the votes go through on generous 15, we will be satisfied. >> it never came up? one thing new york and new jersey has always done, we have been through tough times. we look forward. we will not look back and say what could have been. people are suffering right now. small businesses are going under. we have economic calamity waiting in the winds if we do not rebuild new york and new jersey. that is what we are focused on doing. we got the commitment on our leader and that is what we are focused on. making sure we have votes and support for january 15. >> he said they thought they had enough money.

>> the bottom line is we need the $60 billion. fema is only a part of what we need the funding for. to rebuild, you have to have that funding. >> you need the money with full expectations it is there, not something that may happen. otherwise, you cannot do the engineering studies. this is a very complete package that has been very well thought out. we have something we can be really proud of in terms of legislation that will help huge numbers of people. >> there are no earmarks. everything in that bill relates directly to sandy and the super storm.

>> [inaudible] >> we do not discuss contributions in a government [laughter] >> thank you. >> a day of heated remarks about not considering disaster aid spending bill, there'll be a vote this week after all. kerry young is joining us from

capitol hill. what happened? >> so after a day of heated remarks, there will now be a vote this week after all. a staff writer joins us from capitol hill. what happened? >> we are moving ahead now. flood program. there will be trouble if they do not get the money. we will see that on friday. they are scheduled to pick up the rest of the package on january 15. >> why did house republican leaders not schedule a vote before? >> a great question. it sounds like they thought they would have a hard time getting through the fiscal cliff. it was very odd seeing a bill come out yesterday. there is a lot going on behind the scenes. >> you talk about how it will work going forward. can you elaborate? >> it sounds like they will do around what obama has requested, the same money we saw in the senate bill. an initial response bill.

the $9 billion from the flood program. then they will come back on the 15th. they worked really hard on this. it will be on the floor then. a bill proposed yesterday. $27 billion in the first. maybe $16 billion. >> the senate has already passed a disaster relief bill. will congress have to start this process all over again? >> the house is only in for about an hour. that is a formality. that bill will expire all of the work. we know what the senate has passed and what they want to do. they should be able to move

quickly on this. that is a traditional route. >> why is getting this bill done as soon as possible so important to lawmakers pushing for it? >> it is not a good practice to run dry. at fema. they will need to start conserving that money very soon if they do not get extra money for the fund. they will have to tell people applying for new recovery aid they will have to hold off. congress has done this repeatedly in the past decade. it is very destructive. this better to manage this ahead of time. there will be -- the flood money, those things are brought with bipartisan support.

>> kerry young, i appreciate your time. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> the 113th congress convenes at noon eastern and that will be on c-span 2. here on c-span, you will see the roll call of u.s. house members and the election of the speaker and on c-span 3, we will cover the swearing in of new u.s. senators.