Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) outraged over House GOP's handling of Sandy aid vote: says tea party doesn't care about red states

This morning Speaker Boehner is pledging to make a Sandy relief bill a priority in the new Congress after abruptly pulling a similar bill late Tuesday night, right after the House passed the fiscal cliff deal. That move had lawmakers on both sides of the aisle enraged and politicians in the Northeast venting their anger.

New Jersey's outspoken governor, Republican Chris Christie, said yesterday: “National disasters happen in red states and blue states and states with Democratic governors and Republican governors. We respond to innocent victims of natural disasters, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans. Or at least we did until last night. Last night politics was placed before hosts to serve our citizens. For me, it was disappointing and disgusting to watch.”

Boehner says lawmakers will vote tomorrow for a $9 billion measure, with more money later. Congressman Frank Pallone is a Democrat from New Jersey. His district includes Union Beach and Belmar, both towns hit hard by Superstorm Sandy. Outraged this morning over Congress’ handling of the Sandy aid vote, he joins us live from Washington.

Rep. Pallone agrees with Governor Christie’s assessment that politics came into play here. He even concludes that the Tea Party doesn’t consider a natural disaster in a blue state as important as a natural disaster in a red state, and that is the reason why Speaker Boehner neglected the Sandy relief bill. “I really think that the speaker doesn't care about New York and New Jersey,” he says. “The fact of the matter is that he was afraid to bring this up yesterday, in my opinion, because the Tea Party and the right wing did not want to vote for the spending bill for…New York and New Jersey.”