Bishop Blisters House Leadership For Dropping Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill

Congressman Tim Bishop of New York strongly criticized GOP leadership in Congress for not bringing the bipartisan Super Storm Sandy Relief Bill to a vote in the House of Representatives. After the House voted on legislation to avert the “fiscal cliff,” the bill was removed from the calendar Tuesday night. It was passed in the Senate this past Friday.

The Congressman had called for the $60.2 billion package to be voted on immediately and was extremely disappointed when his request was not carried out.

“It’s unconscionable that this chamber would walk away from a region desperate for assistance in its greatest hour of need,” Bishop said in his floor speech. “We cannot accept this shockingly callous indifference to the human suffering in our districts that our constituents and tens of thousands of their fellow citizens continue to endure,”

New York Republican Peter King agreed with the Congressman. “These people have no trouble finding New York when they are raising money,” he said in an article in the Courier Post Online. “We cannot believe that this cruel knife in the back was done.”

Yesterday was the last day the 112th Congress can be in session. Unless the House leadership called a vote, the legislation will have to be discussed and negotiated all over again by the 113th Congress that will convene today.

“They [Bishop’s constituents] deserve so much better from their elected leadership,” Bishop said. “Bring this bill to the floor for a vote now.”