Markowitz Not Amused By House Of Rep’s Lack Of Sandy Relief Action

By on January 2, 2013 11:48 pm in DUMBO, Environment, News, Red Hook

Brooklyn Borough Prez Marty Markowitz is mighty irritated with the U.S. House of Representatives for its ongoing inertia in passing relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy, which impacted so many in our surrounding neighborhoods.

He writes: “Thousands of families—not just in our beloved Brooklyn but across New York City, Long Island, New Jersey and beyond—are struggling. Homes have been destroyed, businesses shuttered and lives permanently changed. After Hurricane Katrina, it took barely a week for Congress to pass a relief bill offering immediate assistance. But now, months after Hurricane Sandy, Congressional Republicans ‘led’ by Speaker Boehner have chosen to play politics instead of helping storm victims.

“The Speaker should know that America begins with New York. We are a national city, essential not only to the identity of this nation but to its survival, paying a lot more in tax dollars than we get back. However, in our time of need, when all we have asked for is our fair share, the Speaker and House Republicans have disrespected New York by ignoring our pleas for help. Residents and business owners have asked for nothing more than a helping hand, but in a gesture that was as callous as it was inexplicable, Republicans in the House refused to throw them a life jacket to help keep their heads above water—choosing instead to leave them drowning in the wake of the storm.”

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  • Mr. Crusty

    I have been following politics for a long long time but I have never seen such a clownish, dysfunctional Congress. They are a disgrace and an embarrassment.

  • Gerry

    It would be great if our Borough President could do something about this but over the years the power of this office has so greatly weakened that President Markowitz disapointment means nothing.

  • Boerum Bill

    He’s more of a symbol, like Queen Elizabeth.

  • GHB

    I’ve never see Queen Elizabeth stuffing her pie-hole at Vinny’s of Carroll Gardens!

  • GHB

    seen

  • David on Middagh

    I’m sure the Quee doesn’t care.

  • Wiley E.

    Oh, oh – Marty has a non-profit, and is selling the stuff from his office to support it? Don’t pull a Sandusky on us Marty! Where did that BHB story (posted today) disappear to? Phoof.

  • Wiley E.

    Whoops! My bad. BHB didn’t report the Marty story today. It was the Daily News. My apologies to the good people at BHB.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/bk-beep-marty-markowitz-plans-auction-trove-office-toys-year-article-1.1231830

  • Cathy

    Jeesh, somebody on here has been mixed up all day.

  • Gerry

    Howard Golden had been a great BP.

  • HenryLoL

    It is amazing how little most people know about politics. This issue has zero to do with those affected by the storm and everything to do with the dems wanting to pad the bill with millions and millions of dollars for programs having nothing to do with the storm and affected persons. Of course Marty and king and Cuomo and Christie had to speak out…. They are politicians… They need to show those in their communities that they care (they don’t). But they know what this is really about. Just can’t speak out in this instance because the average joe would crucify them. Don’t believe what the press reports. It’s not so black and white.

  • David on Middagh

    HenryLoL, if you know offhand, I would like to hear what is padding out the Sandy aid. If as you say it’s millions and millions of dollars in programs, well, out of billions in requested aid, that amounts to… a few tenths of one percent?

  • Mr. Crusty

    Here is HenryLoL that predicted a Romney win telling us all we don’t know anything about politics. Whatever. But more specifically his claim that the DEMS porked up the Sandy relief bill is just not accurate as this snippet from Forbes Magazine. Read the entire article for specific details or GOP pork.

    “However, as it turns out, the pork portions of the Senate bill were not earmarked to benefit Democratic members of the upper chamber of Congress. And you may be quite surprised to discover where that money is actually headed once the rich Senate legislation is passed by the House.

    A review of the mark-up of the Senate bill reveals that all that extra, non-Sandy related cash is actually set to provide billions for “storm events that occurred in 2012 along the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast within the boundaries of the North Atlantic and Mississippi Valley divisions of the Corps that were affected by Hurricanes Sandy and Isaac.”

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/01/03/pork-holding-up-senate-sandy-relief-bill-funneled-into-the-troughs-of-gop-deficit-hawks-you-betcha/

  • Mr. Crusty

    Some more from the article detailing GOP hypocrisy:

    “Here’s what Majority Leader Reid had to say:

    “We have other important things to do here in the Senate. We have — we’re going on almost two months now without giving relief to the northeast who were struck by that violent storm, Sandy. 700,000 or 800,000 homes destroyed in New Jersey and New York alone. When Irene struck, we acted very quickly. We didn’t wait and say, well let’s see, Alabama has two Republican senators, Mississippi has two Republican senators, Texas has two Republican senators, Louisiana has one Republican senator,”

    While it would appear that Reid figured out—all on his own—that adding in these pork benefits for his Republican colleagues would insure passage of the relief bill without requiring the need to devote endless hours heading off yet another GOP filibuster effort, it is clear that these GOP senators—each and every one of them a supposed mortal enemy of unnecessary government spending—did not rush to request that the money be removed from the bill so as to save the nation a few billion bucks.

    Apparently, these deficit hawks only spread their wings when they are flying in full public view.But when nobody is looking?

    Let the pork flow.

    Can you spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e?”

  • Gerry

    @ HernryLol – you said it most dopes believe what the media reports this Sandy BS from Marty Markowitz who as a BP has NO power do do anything but get himself some press means nothing.

    The GOP are as bad as the Democrats here.

    Marty needs to work on the Fulton Mall he has done some good things at that mall I hope that he keeps it up I would like to see Brooks Brothers here soon.

  • HenryLoL

    LOL.

  • HenryLoL