A man stands on the debris of homes devastated by fire and the effects of Hurricane Sandy in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough in New York January 15, 2013. Republicans cleared the way for House action Tuesday on Hurricane Sandy disaster aid after the leadership stepped in to pare back scores of amendments that could have been problematic to passage.[Agencies]

WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved $50.5 billion in long-delayed federal disaster aid to victims of Superstorm Sandy, but not before Republicans flexed their budget-cutting muscle to strike some spending provisions.

The aid package for the storm that ravaged New York and New Jersey coastlines now moves to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where it is expected to win swift passage.

The legislation had been tied up for weeks in the House amid congressional brawling over U.S. deficit reduction, spending and taxes in the New Year's new fiscal drama.

And surprisingly stiff opposition from Republicans in the 241-180 vote foreshadows a tough road ahead for winning House approval of future budget deals over the debt limit and other looming fiscal deadlines.

East Coast politicians abandoned their recently frustrated tone and expressed relief at the House vote.

"The tradition of Congress of being there and providing support for Americans in times of crisis, no matter where they live across this great country, lives on in today's vote in the House of Representatives," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, said in a joint statement.

The House approved the aid in two parts - $17 billion in funds to cover immediate disaster relief needs and $33.5 billion in longer-term reconstruction funds. The longer-term funds drew more opposition from House Republicans who saw it as loaded with spending that was unnecessary or that would take years to occur.

Republicans managed to whittle the package down slightly by eliminating $150 million in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant money as well as striking $9.8 million for rebuilding seawalls and buildings on uninhabited islands in a Connecticut wildlife reserve.

The House defeated a Republican attempt to require $17 billion in across-the-board spending cuts for fiscal 2013 to pay for part of the aid package.

Republican Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, reflecting strong desire in his party to force spending cuts after accepting higher tax rates on the wealthy, said he did not want to fund the aid with borrowed money.

"It is important to me that this money goes to the folks that need it very badly. It's so important to me that we should pay for it," Mulvaney said in debate on the House floor.

The vote follows Congress' Jan. 4 passage of $9.7 billion in initial funds to keep the National Flood Insurance Program solvent and to pay homeowners' flood claims from Sandy. The funds approved on Tuesday bring total House-approved Sandy aid to $60.2 billion, just shy of earlier proposals.

But the bulk of the federal aid for victims of the Oct. 29 storm that killed more than 130 people and destroyed thousands of homes was tied up in controversy.