"Rep. Peter King (R-NY) lit into House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and other House Republicans on Wednesday for adjourning the night before without taking up Hurricane Sandy relief legislation."
"It's absolutely disgraceful," King said on CNN. "People in my party, they wonder why they're becoming a minority party. They're writing off New York, they're writing off New Jersey. Well, they've written me off, and they're gonna have a hard time getting my vote, I can tell you that."
King said that Republicans have no problem finding New York when they want to raise money. In light of Tuesday's inaction, King said, anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes to the National Republican Congressional Committee should have their "head examined."
"King added that he may not support Boehner when he comes up for re-election as House Speaker. "As far as I'm concerned, my world turned upside down last night. So I am, right now, holding every vote in abeyance."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/rep-peter-king-bashes-gop-for-abandoning-sandy?ref=fpblg
Chris Christy also had some harsh words for Boehner:
"Christie’s assault on Boehner was brutal and unrelenting. He claimed he’d received assurances that the aid would be voted on — only to have four of his calls to Boehner go unreturned last night. He repeatedly lavished praise on Eric Cantor, separating him out as helpful to New Jersey where Boehner wasn’t. Christie ripped into the “toxic internal politics of the House majority,” hinting that Boehner’s internal standing is what motivated the spiked vote."
"It’s unclear to me how Christie’s attack will impact Boehner himself. But his rant is going to get a lot of play, and could, at least in the short term, further tarnish the House GOP brand. Christie seems to have a lot of appeal to independents who believe (I don’t, but they seem to) he’s a straight shooter who is above politics — recall the GOP angst over Christie’s praise for Obama’s Sandy leadership for precisely this reason. In this context, this seemed like one of the most telling lines of all from Christie:
However, Greg Sargent makes the interesting point that what happened here may be more than just Boehner being clueless or even trying to save his members from another tough vote after the fiscal cliff vote. Though in this case Cantor comes off as kind of a hero-he spoke out against failing to pass the relief bill, both he and his party are on the record of being quite skeptical of the federal government performing disaster relief tasks.
"The thing about this is that some Republicans actually have had a conflicted attitude towards federal disaster relief for some time. Despite Christie’s praise of Cantor, the House Majority Leader took criticism from fellow Republicans for suggesting that Missouri tornado victims should get federal aid only if Dems in Congress agreed to offset the costs with spending cuts. Cantor also suggested something similar about disaster relief after an earthquake in his home state of Virginia. Republicans have historically been skeptical of the role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And as you may remember, former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney suggested transferring disaster relief to the states."
"What drove Boehner to spike the vote? Dem Rep. Rob Andrews of New Jersey offered this suggestion: “the Republican leadership didn’t want to be anywhere near a big spending bill after the fiasco of their handling the tax debate.”
So the trouble may be ideological and as Sargent suggests Christy's real gripe may be with his party's ideology rather than just Boehner or even just "toxic internal politics."
What's clear is that this whole episode won't do anything to improve the GOP's flagging brand-withholding Sandy relief funds.
"It’s unclear to me how Christie’s attack will impact Boehner himself. But his rant is going to get a lot of play, and could, at least in the short term, further tarnish the House GOP brand. Christie seems to have a lot of appeal to independents who believe (I don’t, but they seem to) he’s a straight shooter who is above politics — recall the GOP angst over Christie’s praise for Obama’s Sandy leadership for precisely this reason. In this context, this seemed like one of the most telling lines of all from Christie:
“This used to be something that was not political. Disaster relief was something that you didn’t play games with.”http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/01/02/chris-christies-frustration-with-gop-boils-over/
However, Greg Sargent makes the interesting point that what happened here may be more than just Boehner being clueless or even trying to save his members from another tough vote after the fiscal cliff vote. Though in this case Cantor comes off as kind of a hero-he spoke out against failing to pass the relief bill, both he and his party are on the record of being quite skeptical of the federal government performing disaster relief tasks.
"The thing about this is that some Republicans actually have had a conflicted attitude towards federal disaster relief for some time. Despite Christie’s praise of Cantor, the House Majority Leader took criticism from fellow Republicans for suggesting that Missouri tornado victims should get federal aid only if Dems in Congress agreed to offset the costs with spending cuts. Cantor also suggested something similar about disaster relief after an earthquake in his home state of Virginia. Republicans have historically been skeptical of the role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And as you may remember, former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney suggested transferring disaster relief to the states."
"What drove Boehner to spike the vote? Dem Rep. Rob Andrews of New Jersey offered this suggestion: “the Republican leadership didn’t want to be anywhere near a big spending bill after the fiasco of their handling the tax debate.”
So the trouble may be ideological and as Sargent suggests Christy's real gripe may be with his party's ideology rather than just Boehner or even just "toxic internal politics."
What's clear is that this whole episode won't do anything to improve the GOP's flagging brand-withholding Sandy relief funds.
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