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

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., right, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 1, 2013, to a Democratic caucus meeting with Vice President Joe Biden.

Updated at 12:50 pm EST

It could be a long afternoon.

About 150 Democrats will support the Senate-passed fiscal cliff bill, assuming “we’ll have enough Republicans to pass this thing,” Rep. Norm Dicks, a Washington Democrat says. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a South Florida Democrat and chairman of the national party, says the bill will pass with an “overwhelming majority of Democratic

Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, calls it “a very good deal,” and says the House should take it.

That’s the word from morning appearances on MSNBC.

This is the early word from the House floor: Where Rep. Mo Brooks of Arkansas says he will vote no if the House leadership takes that bill to the floor today.

The House’s Republicans will confer at 1 pm.

Peter Cook, Nick Johnston and Roger Runningen contributed. 

Original post is House Cliff Vote: 3-1 and Counting — Most Democrats Ready to Go by Political Capital.

Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, right, walks out of a House Republican caucus meeting at the Capitol on Jan. 1, 2013.

Updated at 10:50 and 11:10 am EST

In the end, it’s on John Boehner.

The speaker of the Republican-run House couldn’t convince his own party to accept his own alternative to the year-end tax increases which now have technically taken effect, if for only a day or few. Now he faces the task of convincing his House to match the Senate on its early-morning, bipartisan New Year’s vote for new taxes.

In the end, the contours of a deal were drawn without him: Vice President Joe Biden, president of the Senate and a longtime veteran of that body, hashed out an agreement with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, an old colleague who, remember, had vowed to do everything in his power to prevent President Barack Obama from winning re-election.

Obama won, repeatedly reminding everyone since that he campaigned with a vow to tax the top-earning Americans harder and spare everyone else from the higher income tax rates which, technically, took effect after midnight. The Senate’s bill raises income tax and investment income rates on households earning more than $450,000 a year.

The agreement reached by Biden and McConnell somewhat amazingly drew next to no opposition in the Senate, save for a few who reserved for themselves the right to say they never bought this thing: Three Democrats voted against the measure: Michael Bennet of Colorado, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Tom Carper of Delaware. They were joined by five Republicans who voted no: Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Marco Rubio of Florida and Richard Shelby of Alabama. Senators such as Rubio and Paul are likely to save that claim for the next big political race each faces.

And that leaves Boehner precious little room for political cover.

In the end, the speaker has pledged to hear the Senate’s bill in the House — without promising to pass it unamended. Should the House amend the deal substantially, it runs the risk of no agreement at all. The lame-duck Congress has two-and-a-half days left. Thursday afternoon, it will be succeeded by one with more Democrats in it.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a South Florida Democrat and chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said today the Senate’s bill will earn an “overwhelming majority of Democratic votes.” She said in an appearance on MSNBC: “We have a balanced plan here in front of us.”

That leaves Boehner’s Republicans even less cover — and more responsibility for failure.

Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma is among the Republicans who have been calling for a compromise on taxes for some time. Now is the time, he said today.

“It’s a measured victory, it’s not a complete victory, it’s  a compromise, each side got something,” Cole said this morning on MSNBC as House Republicans prepared to caucus after noon. “I can walk away from this one thinking we’ve got a very good deal. We ought to take this deal right now.”

Boehner is standing at the bottom of what so many have readily called a “fiscal cliff” — the metaphor coined by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The Fed chairman and Congressional Budget Office alike have warned of the economic consequences of taking this standoff too far.

The stock market liked what it heard of an impending agreement yesterday. The markets are closed today. They will reopen tomorrow to one kind of news, or another.

“Putting to bed this thing before the markets is really a pretty important thing to do,” Cole added today.

The White House and Senate have thrown the speaker a long rope.

In the end, it’s on him and his House to take it.

Roger Runningen contributed the comments from Congress on MSNBC. 

Original post is Boehner’s View from Bottom of Cliff by Political Capital.

Photograph by Olivier Douliery/Pool via Bloomberg

President Barack Obama signs into law an $858 billion bill extending the Bush-era tax cuts for two more years on Dec. 17, 2010.

Count Tom Cole among the congressmen ready to cut a deal.

The Republican representative from Oklahoma says he has advised fellow Republicans that they should accede to President Barack Obama’s demand that Congress extend the Bush-era tax cuts for American families with annual incomes of less than $250,000 and for individuals who make less than $200,000 a year.

“This is a question of political tactics, not political theology,” Cole said today.

“We are not going to raise taxes on those people” so “we ought to go make that abundantly clear to everybody, take them out of the negotiations” on a broader deal to reform the tax code and cut spending, Cole told reporters.

Cole offered his tactical advice to fellow Republicans in closed-door meetings when asked for his opinion on how to proceed. His idea: Go ahead and preserve the tax cuts for most people and have another debate about taxing the wealthiest Americans down the road.

Republicans won’t “lose leverage at all” by extending the lower tax rates for 98 percent of taxpayers, he said. “I actually think that’s Democrats’ leverage, not ours,” he said.

Democrats have accused Republicans of holding hostage the extension of the middle-class tax cuts to force Congress to extend them for the wealthiest Americans. Protecting the vast majority of taxpayers by year’s end would quash the complaint about Republicans.

Original post is Cole: One Republican Ready to Deal by Political Capital.