A US flag is seen outside a home 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]

Canceled vote

House Speaker John Boehner infuriated New York and New Jersey politicians on Jan. 1 when he canceled a vote for a previous, Senate-passed $60.4 billion version of the legislation amid Republican angst over accepting higher tax rates on the wealthy in a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

The move prompted howls of protest that the largely Democratic East Coast states were being treated much more harshly than the Gulf Coast states that suffered massively from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Just 10 days after that storm, Congress had approved $62 billion in federal disaster aid.

It was clear from House floor debate and public statements that these lawmakers were still steamed about the wait, which they said has delayed reconstruction work.

"The families affected by Sandy are in their hour of need. They have waited far too long for this institution to act," said Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat.

Noting the current "precarious fiscal times," House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers said the panel had given the legislation "a good scrub and we have adjusted funding levels to make the best use of taxpayer dollars."

Among these changes were elimination of funds for damaged fisheries in Alaska and on the Gulf Coast, as well as cutting funding for other disasters such as western U.S. wildfires.

Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, in an opinion piece in the Washington Times, asked whether the bar for disaster funding was continually being lowered.

"As we continue to borrow more than 30 cents on the dollar, much of it from the Chinese, can and should the federal government continue to fund the restoration of private homes, businesses and automobiles?" Hensarling wrote.