On Tuesday night, the House passed a $50.66 billion Hurricane Sandy Relief Package, which includes a total of $118 million for Amtrak - $86 million in capital funds and $32 million in operating funds to cover expenses associated with Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012. Amtrak requested $336 million in the previous legislative session and the Senate had included the full amount in their version of the bill, but Congress failed to pass a bill before the end of the last session, so they had to start over in the new session.
A total of $10.9 billion will also go to repairing the public transportation systems in the New York region, including the New York City Subway, Metro-North and Long Island Railroads, and NJ Transit. The bill's next hurdle is in the Senate, where lawmakers will conference with the House before sending a final bill for the President to sign.
The bill faced fierce criticism and opposition from fiscal conservatives in the House, many of whom voted no on the final bill. Only 49 Republicans voted for the final package and 179 voted against it. The final tally was 241 to 180. Many Republicans were hoping to pass amendments that would have required the relief funding to be offset by discretionary spending cuts.
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