There’s been a lot of criticism in the House within the Republican party of their own leadership today. One of the most outspoken has been New Jersey congressman Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.).
Earlier today, Rep. LoBiondo expressed his anger with a fiery speech on the House floor. Since then, LoBiondo says his anger has subsided since speaking with Speaker John Boehner. Under intense pressure from Gov. Christie and New Jersey and New York congressmen, Boehner promised Wednesday to hold a vote Friday on $9 billion in immediate disaster aid for superstorm Sandy. Another $51 billion would be considered on Jan. 15, the first legislative day of the new congress that is sworn in at noon Thursday.
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LoBiondo described a roller coaster of emotions that he experienced throughout the day.
“So 11:30 last night we’re told it’s not going to happen with no reason why it’s not going to happen, no expectation of when its going to happen,” he said. “Then we have some of my colleagues who have the gall and audacity to suggest that there’s no sense of urgency and that we need to cut back the number — that was just more than I could take.”
Refusing to name names, LoBiondo says he turned to some of those colleagues and said “come and walk in LBI with me. come and walk with me in some of the New Jersey areas and you’ll see whether there’s a sense of urgency.”
In Boehner’s defense, LoBiondo says that the speaker was consumed with the “fiscal cliff” negotiations and felt that it was not the right time to bring up the relief bill.
“Well, I take him at his word that all the oxygen was taken out of the air by the fiscal cliff bill,” LoBiondo said. “I don’t think it’s going to do any good to rehash it but the reality is that we from New Jersey have stood up for whether it’s Katrina or whether it’s Florida or California or Missouri or wherever the natural disaster took place. There was never a set of criteria, there was never a hoop or hurdle to go through. It was that people were hurting, people’s lives were ripped from them and we needed to get them back to normal.”
Despite Boehner’s reversal of his earlier decision by scheduling a vote this Friday, LoBiondo remains concerned that there will be enough votes to pass the bill.
“We were told a number that we needed to get to of Republican commitments. We exceeded that by a large amount. Now, a lot of those people are not going to be part of Congress as of tomorrow. I have a concern that the votes are going to be there although [Eric] Cantor and Boehner are suggesting that the climate will be different.”
Until the deal is signed, sealed and delivered, LoBiondo says he won’t rest easy.