US Senate approves $50.5 bln in long-delayed Superstorm Sandy aid

A long-delayed $50.5 billion aid package for victims of Superstorm Sandy cleared the Senate on Monday, three months after the storm destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in coastal New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.   

The package, approved 62-36 in the Democratic-controlled Senate, now goes to President Barack Obama to be signed into law. Added to flood insurance legislation passed by Congress earlier this month, it brings Sandy aid appropriations to $60.2 billion.   

All the opposing lawmakers were Republicans. But nine Republicans joined Democrats in voting yes to narrowly cross the 60-vote threshold required for passage.   

The Senate also defeated a Republican amendment that sought to offset the Sandy aid with cuts to discretionary spending spread over the next nine years.   

The vote was delayed last week as Senate leaders wrangled over new rules aimed at limiting procedural roadblocks known as filibusters.   

Sandy's victims "have been waiting for three months for their federal government to step up and help them rebuild their lives and rebuild their livelihoods," said Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. "They have been waiting and waiting."   

The package will provide $10 billion to repair public transport infrastructure, $5.3 billion to replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund and $16 billion in Community Development Block Grant funding - money to be used by municipalities largely to rebuild homes and businesses.   

"This bill meets the current needs of the recovery efforts," Mikulski said.


REUTERS