Photograph by Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg

Pedestrians fill gas cans at a Sunoco Inc. station in Bloomfield, New Jersey, days after Hurricane Sandy.

Here’s hoping that we’re not revealing a sensitive national-security matter, but New Jersey Governor Chris Christie put it out there, so what the heck.

When the president of the United States phones, Caller ID flashes not a name or number, but rather “Unknown.”

Christie, 50, a Republican seeking a second term, knows this because after Hurricane Sandy struck on Oct. 29., he spoke daily with President Barack Obama, a Democrat whom Christie praised for his leadership during the most devastating Atlantic storm in history.

The gasoline supply was an immediate crisis, Christie said today during a speech at the New Jersey Hospital Association in Princeton. He called Obama, who had given his number and told him to call any time.

“I said, ‘I need gas.’ He said, ‘OK. How much do you need?’” Christie said. “So at this point, I did what any person who has no idea what they’re talking about does when asked a question like that over a cell phone by the president of the United States. I was standing in front of my Cabinet, who knew I was on a phone with the president, and I said, ‘Uh, uh, sorry sir. You’re breaking up. Did you ask how much gas I need?’ Desperately looking at someone in my Cabinet to give me some answer.”

Bob Martin, commissioner of environmental protection, whispered, “12 million gallons,” Christie said.

“I said, ‘Mr. President, we’ve looked at the problem and we think we need 12 million gallons.”

Obama said he would call Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and get back to the governor.

A few moments later, “Unknown” was on the line.

That gas would be on the way.

Original post is Obama’s Caller ID: ‘Unknown’ — Christie’s 12 Million Gallons of Gas by Political Capital.

Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Rep. Peter King speaks to the media after a meeting regarding the Sandy aid bill with Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner on Capitol Hill.

House Republicans from districts struck by super-storm Sandy last fall are still seething at Republican colleagues who opposed an aid package.

“It’s going to make it very uncomfortable going back to Congress, working with some of these people,” Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican who represents part of Long Island, said today on WOR Radio in New York.

House Republicans who attacked and delayed the aid package made “stupid arguments” and were “treating us like some third-world beggar nation,” King said.

Most Republicans demanded spending cuts to pay for some of the aid package, which included a $9.7 billion flood insurance measure that passed Jan. 4 and a $50.5 billion relief and reconstruction measure that passed Jan. 15. About four in five House Republicans voted against the second bill after an attempt to include offsetting spending cuts was rejected.

King and Rep. Frank LoBiondo, a New Jersey Republican, noted that some Republicans who opposed Sandy aid previously sought federal money after disasters struck their districts.

“I think these so-called colleagues of ours have made a very, very bad mistake with how they handled this,” LoBiondo said on WOR.

Some members of Congress from disaster-prone areas reneged on a promise to support Sandy aid, LoBiondo said.

“They didn’t even have the courtesy or the guts to tell us that they changed their minds,” he said. “These are the same people who were demanding for their constituents something that they would not give our constituents, people who were really hurting.”

Mick Mulvaney, the South Carolina Republican who led the unsuccessful campaign to finance some disaster relief by cutting spending elsewhere, said in a statement Jan. 15 that his effort was “was not about denying assistance to anyone in need.”

“I hope that we will use this experience to be even better stewards of taxpayer dollars going forward,” he said.

Original post is Rep. King: ‘Very Uncomfortable’ with Sandy Aid Opposition in Party by Political Capital.

Photograph by Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg

Members of the National Guard evacuate residents from their apartments in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Updated at 9:45 pm EST

The House, finally, has approved billions in aid for the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.

The first aid package of $17 billion passed today on a vote of 327-91.

All 91 of the opponents were Republicans, including six committee chairmen including Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee and Republican Mitt Romney’s running mate in the 2012 presidential campaign.

A bipartisan coalition did approve the bill: 192 Democrats were joined by 135 Republicans.

In a statement,  Ryan said he voted against the Sandy aid measure because “it funds billions in grants for non-Sandy expense” including highway repairs in the Virgin islands. “We must ensure communities in need have sufficient resources to assist those affected by Hurricane Sandy,” he said. “We can provide aid without mismanaging our resources and without increasing our massive debt.”

A second larger measure passed by 241-180.

Combined with flood aid approved earlier, the package totals $60.4 billion

Yet the opposition is probably new grist for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s complaints about his own party’s delay in coming to the rescue of the hurricane-stricken residents of his state after the “super-storm” that struck the Northeast on Oct. 29.  Republicans in his region had protested when House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio canceled a planned Jan. 1 vote on the package in the Republican-run House.

“There is a federal responsibility to act,” said Oklahoma Republican Tom Cole. “We have a national interest in getting this region on its feet as quickly as possible.”

After the storm in October, Christie toured the devastation with President Barack Obama — a bipartisan show of concern that aided the images of both men. After the election in November, Christie congratulated the Democratic president who won a second term.  He sent an e-mail to Romney.

No word yet on Christie’s message today to Ryan.

Jim Rowley contributed to this report.

Original post is Sandy Aid Opposition: 91 Republicans by Political Capital.

Photograph by Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

A copy of the U.S. Constitution on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Before Sandy aid came the Constitution.

Members of the House of Representatives today continued a ritual begun two years ago after Republicans took control of the chamber by reading from the full text of the U.S. Constitution.

Lawmakers of both parties were invited to come, on a first-come, first-served basis, to participate in the reading.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican, said in a statement that “as members of Congress we must never lose sight that we are committed to protecting the fundamental rights of the people we represent.”

The reading, which took more than an hour to complete, was led by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Virginia Republican who now chairs the House Judiciary Committee. “One of the resounding themes I have heard from my constituents is that Congress should adhere to the Constitution and the finite list of powers it grants to the federal government,” Goodlatte, who initiated the first reading at the start of the previous Congress in 2011, said in a statement.

Among those participating in the reading was House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat. She read from a portion of Article III that delegated powers to the federal judiciary.

As Congress prepares to debate President Barack Obama’s proposals to regulate assault-weapons, the reading included the Second Amendment. Read by Kansas Republican Kevin Yoder, it states:“ A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

The 13th Amendment, which formally abolished slavery after the Civil War, was read by John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who is an honored veteran of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when he was beaten by police and mobs during marches and demonstrations.

At some point later today, the House is expected to vote on delayed federal aid for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Original post is Constitution Read: 2nd Amendment — and more, from Republican House by Political Capital.

Photograph by Alex Fradkin/Redux

Residents make the trek to the Yana Center, an aid, supply and distribution center set up by Occupy Sandy Volunteers, an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, after Hurricane Sandy in the Rockaway Beach section of Queens, New York.

Keeping citizens safe and providing aid when disaster strikes are the focus in Washington today.

President Barack Obama reviews recommendations for executive and legislative action to stop gun violence in response to last month’s Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre. New York took a step closer to passing tighter gun laws as the state Senate yesterday approved a measure that would make it easier to keep firearms away from the mentally ill and close gaps in a 2000 ban on assault weapons.

The House is gearing up for a floor battle on disaster aid with some Republicans planning to oppose efforts of Northeastern lawmakers to win $60.4 billion in assistance for states affected by Hurricane Sandy. The day will begin on Capitol Hill with House members reading the Constitution aloud, a session-starting practice initiated by the Republican majority in 2011.

Highway safety advocates will discuss the reasons behind a spike in fatalities after U.S. road deaths increased 7.1 percent in the first nine months of last year compared to the same period in 2011.

The AARP holds a news conference on security for middle-class seniors at the National Press Club. The American Petroleum Institute unveils an advertising campaign to highlight downstream issues including the importance of investing in pipelines and domestic refining. NOAA announces new data on global temperature conditions.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar speaks on violent extremism in his country at an event hosted by the Asia Society.

And speaking of safety and planning ahead, the Department of Transportation and the FAA today hold a meeting of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee to discuss early development of regulations to protect occupants of commercial spacecraft.

With assistance from Chelsea Mes in London and Katherine Rizzo, John Hughes, Juliann Francis and Kim Chipman in Washington.

Original post is Washington Daybook: Safety First by Political Capital.

Photograph by Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, standing, greets Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, as Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., looks on, during the first House Rules Committee.

With President Barack Obama and Congress poised to clash over spending cuts and raising the $16.4 trillion federal debt limit, reaching a deal may be complicated by a North-South divide among Republicans made wider by the 2012 elections.

In the South, most congressional districts are so purely partisan there’s little incentive for bargaining. Those Republicans “don’t feel like they have to reach out for any kind of bipartisan compromise or find middle ground because they come from such conservative districts,” said David T. Canon, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The debt-ceiling debate is “going to be the next big split here, where you’re going to have moderate Republicans trying to find a solution” and “a fairly significant number of Republicans, mostly from the South, who are going to be willing to push all the way to the edge of that potential default,” Canon said.

Republicans hold 97 of the 138 congressional districts in the 11 Southern states of the old Confederacy, while Democrats hold most of the rest. Republicans have 16 of the 22 Senate seats and 10 of the 11 governorships in the South, where losing presidential nominee Mitt Romney won 74 percent of the electoral votes while taking just 23 percent elsewhere.

The party solidified its Southern standing in the election even as it lost ground in other regions, including the Pacific Coast and the Northeast. The party’s candidates lost every single House race in New England, where Susan Collins of Maine and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire are the only Republican senators. Democrats have won eight consecutive Senate races in New York and 13 straight in New Jersey.

Votes in Congress last week highlighted the geographic fault lines.

About seven in eight Republicans from Southern districts voted Jan. 1 against a compromise to avert more than $600 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax increases, while the rest of the House Republicans were about evenly divided. The measure to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff drew overwhelming Republican support in the Senate, where members represent broader constituencies than House members.

Southern House members accounted for about half of the 67 Republican votes on Jan. 4 against the first installment of disaster relief for victims of superstorm Sandy.

Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, had scheduled the vote under pressure from his northeastern colleagues, including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who accused his own party leaders of neglecting their region. The House is scheduled to consider two more Sandy-related measures on Jan. 15.

Southern Republicans likely will oppose new regulations on firearms, while Republicans in suburban areas elsewhere may be open to some restrictions. Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said he will deliver next week recommendations for stemming gun violence following the shooting of 20 children and six women at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut last month.

There are signs of change ahead, however. See the full story on the North-South split at Bloomberg.com.

Original post is Southern Discomfort: Fights Ahead by Political Capital.

Photograph by Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg

Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, speaks to reporters at the Statehouse in Trenton, New Jersey, on Jan. 4, 2013.

Chris Christie, the plain-spoken Republican governor of New Jersey who called out House Speaker John Boehner last week after the House delayed a vote on $60 billion in Hurricane Sandy aid, says his party is a bit disgruntled after back-to-back losses in presidential elections.

Boehner, who was reelected speaker last week, put off the Sandy vote after saying “it wasn’t the right time” following his party’s fractious passage of legislation to avert $600 billion in spending cuts and tax increases dubbed the “fiscal cliff.”

Christie, saying “palace intrigue” was behind the delay, contends that Republicans are smarting from losses to President Barack Obama in 2008 and again in November. He’s so far refused to single out the Tea Party members of Congress, or specify the exact nature of the infighting.

“These are the type of arguments and soul searching that every party goes through when they have two consecutive national elections that they lose,” Christie said Jan. 4 during a 35-minute interview in his Trenton office. “Politics is about winning and losing. When you’re losing, you’re unhappy. And when you’re winning, you’re thrilled. I think we’ve lost two in a row, and when you’ve lost two in a row everyone is looking to figure out why, first and foremost, and how to fix it.”

He said “less-productive members of the party are going to look at who to blame” for the defeats.

Christie fielded criticism from some Republicans for praising Obama’s post-storm performance after Sandy left 2.7 million without power in New Jersey, crippled mass-transit and ripped up miles of ocean-side boardwalks. That praise came a week before Obama beat Republican Mitt Romney, fpr whom Christie had spent a year campaigning and served as keynote speaker at the party’s convention.

Original post is Christie: Republican Soul-Searching Natural After Two Losses in Row by Political Capital.

Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Representatives from New York and New Jersey, including Peter King, right, speak to the media after a meeting regarding the Sandy aid bill with Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner on Jan. 2, 2013 on Capitol Hill.

New York Rep. Peter King’s initial call for residents of his state to stop writing checks to the National Republican Congressional Committee because of Congress’s delay in Hurricane Sandy relief-funding would pinch in the pocketbook, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by Bloomberg.

About $1 in every $8 raised by the NRCC in individual contributions greater than $200 came from residents of New York, New Jersey or Connecticut. Residents of those three states contributed $3.9 million.

“National parties fund-raise in New York for the same reason that Willie Sutton robbed banks: That’s where the money is,” said Peter Brusoe, campaign finance analyst for Bloomberg Government. “New Yorkers as a state may vote for the Democratic Party, but there are New Yorkers who are willing to open their checkbooks when the national parties come calling.”

King later backed off his remarks, and Congress today increased the borrowing authority for the government flood insurance program by $9.7 billion, allowing it to continue paying damage claims. A House vote on another $33 billion is scheduled for Jan. 15.

Original post is New York Cash Key for Republicans by Political Capital.

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie look at Hurricane Sandy storm damage along the coast of New Jersey, from Marine One on Oct. 31, 2012.

President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have a lot in common:

Hurricane Sandy.

The devastation left by a hurricane-turned-“superstorm” along the coasts of New Jersey and New York placed two of the most visible leaders of two opposing political parties in synch just before an election: Imbuing Obama with a needed air of nonpartisan statesmanship.

Who got congratulations over the phone after re-election? Obama (he and Christie were talking about Sandy then, too.) Republican Mitt Romney got an e-mail of consolation from the New Jersey Republican who served as keynote speaker at the party’s convention.

Post-election, they’re still rowing the same boat:

The House has adjourned without approving a federal relief bill for the victims of Sandy, and Obama, who went to New Jersey after the storm to tour the wreckage with the Republican governor, was on the telephone with him today about the delayed relief funding.

Obama, who left Washington for Hawaii at midnight EST and arrived in Honolulu just before the light of day, HAST, went straight to a gym at the Marines Corps base for a 6:15 am workout after stopping at the rental home where he and is family are vacationing. He was back home by 7:45 am local time.

The president spoke with Christie today — as well as staffers for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — according to the White House. They discussed the supplemental spending request that has passed the Senate and stalled in the House.

“It has only been two months since Hurricane Sandy devastated communities across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut as well as other eastern states,” Obama said in a statement issued by the White House. “Our citizens are still trying to put their lives back together.”

“When tragedy strikes, Americans come together to support those in need,” Obama said. “I urge Republicans in the House of Representatives to do the same, bring this important request to a vote today, and pass it without delay for our fellow Americans.”

The House recessed without taking that vote.

A new Congress will be sworn in tomorrow.

Original post is Obama-Christie: United by Sandy by Political Capital.

Photograph by Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Destroyed homes in the Breezy Point neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York.

Updated at 4:43 pm

Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican, says any campaign contributors from his state or neighboring New Jersey who support House Republicans “should have their head examined.”

King made his comments today on “CNN Newsroom” after Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, prevented the House from voting to provide federal aid to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

“Anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to the Republican congressional campaign committee should have their head examined,” King said on CNN. “I would not give one penny to these people.”

Republicans have no trouble finding New York or New Jersey when they want campaign donations, he suggested. Residents of New York contributed $289 million to campaigns in 2012, behind California, the District of Columbia and Texas, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. New Jersey was 14th with $70 million. The New York City metropolitan area ($226 million) trailed only Washington, D.C., ($254 million) as the No. 1 source of campaign cash in 2012, according to the center.

Donors in the New York City metropolitan area gave $4 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee, more than any other region, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Eight of the nine zip codes where the most donations came from were in the New York metropolitan area; the exception being Palm Beach, Florida.

“The people in my party, they wonder why they’re becoming a minority party,” King said. “They’re writing off New York, they’re writing off New Jersey, they’ve written me off and they’re going to have a hard time getting my vote.”

King wasn’t the only one complaining today about his party. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie blasted his fellow Republicans for leaving New Jersey hanging. By mid-afternoon, House Speaker John Boehner met with members of the New Jersey and New York delegations, and he and Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced that two votes will be held for an aid package totaling $61 billion, starting Friday and to be completed by Jan. 15, the first full day of legislative business for the new Congress

Original post is Sandy Saga: Republicans `Writing Off New York, New Jersey,’ King Says by Political Capital.