Frank Pallone: “I want to thank my colleague from New York. Madam Speaker, this action by the House Republican leadership is too little…”

“I want to thank my colleague from New York. Madam Speaker, this action by the House Republican leadership is too little and too late. I have to say I'm still very upset--and I think it was deplorable--that the Speaker did not bring this bill up and the whole package that addresses Hurricane Sandy relief in the lame-duck session in the last 2 days of Congress. It would have been passed; we had the votes. It would have been on the President's desk; he would have signed it; and we would have started to rebuild the shore. Now we have another delay. I don't know how many weeks--it's 9 weeks, 10 weeks, whatever it is. I have no idea what the Senate is going to do. My understanding is that the Senate is mired in filibuster over the next 3 weeks and isn't even coming back until after the inauguration. So that means we could be waiting another 3 weeks. The rest of the package--which is the most important part of it--might not even come up until we return after a week's break. We're going to be on recess, and then we come back on the 15th and--hopefully--the rest of the package comes out that day. But that means now that we have three separate votes on this package that could have been passed and signed into law over the last couple of days--three separate votes. It is not acceptable, Madam Speaker.”