THE LANCASTER EAGLE GAZETTE by Deirdre Shesgreen Gannett

WASHINGTON — Central Ohio lawmakers were among those voting against a $50.5 billion disaster relief bill for victims of Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday.

The House approved the aid package by a vote of 241-180 over the objections of GOP critics who argued it should have been paid for by cuts to federal spending elsewhere in the budget.

“This bill is structured in a way that does not offset the extra spending,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana.

“I agree that communities affected by Sandy are in need of assistance,” Jordan said in a statement. “(But) if politicians cannot make the tough decisions and find something in the $3.8 trillion budget to cut that could not offset needed disaster relief, they’ll never do the tough things and make spending cuts.”

Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Genoa Township, said he opposed the final package because it included money for “long-term, non-emergency spending,” including funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, the Justice Department and “billions to repair federal highways, some of which can be used anywhere in the country.”

Tiberi and Jordan supported an unsuccessful amendment that would have cut all federal discretionary programs by 1.6 percent to help offset the cost of the aid package.

Northeast lawmakers blasted that provision, saying Congress has never required disaster aid to be offset by spending cuts. Historically, congressional votes on federal disaster funding have not been partisan or even controversial.

“To my colleagues ... who have decided that we need to change the rules of the game, shame on you,” Republican Rep. Frank LoBiondo, of New Jersey, said on the House floor. “Florida, good luck with no more hurricanes. California, congratulations, did you get rid of the (San) Andreas fault? The Mississippi is in a drought. You think you’re not going to have a flood again? Who are you going to come to when you have these things?”

The Oct. 29 storm killed more than 100 people in 10 states and wiped out entire communities in coastal New York and New Jersey. The Senate is expected to consider the disaster aid next week, after President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

The House-passed bill includes $17 billion in emergency spending and another $33.5 billion for longer-term recovery efforts that proponents said were critical to restoring the storm-ravaged East Coast, but critics viewed as extraneous.

Those efforts were the reason Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, opposed the final bill.

“Last night, I voted in favor of $17 billion for immediate emergency aid to the areas affected by Hurricane Sandy, which was in addition to my support of $9.7 billion for the National Flood Insurance Program earlier this year,” he said in a statement. “I have voted for reasonable aid directly related to Hurricane Sandy relief, but when there were amendments loaded up with unrelated, non-emergency spending, I felt like I had to vote against those amendments.”

The legislation includes, for example, $16 billion in Community Development Block Grant money for rebuilding, $10.9 billion for public transportation projects and $5.4 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects. The bill also includes, as Tiberi noted, $10 million for FBI “salaries and expenses” related to the consequences of the hurricane and $725,000 for environmental costs of the storm.

Tiberi and Jordan said they supported helping the victims of the hurricane, but not at the expense of busting the federal budget.

 “It’s important to note that this emergency spending bill didn’t go through the regular appropriations process,” Tiberi said. He pointed out that he voted in favor of an earlier Sandy aid package — a $9 billion bill to pay for flood insurance claims — which passed the House Jan. 4.

 “I believe it is vital that their immediate needs are met, and want to make sure that the long-term plan is responsible and well thought-out,” he said.