Easy Monday: House votes on disaster relief reform

The House meets at 2 p.m. for work on the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act.

The bill is meant to help speed up the process of delivering federal disaster aid. Among other things, it would allow FEMA to write earlier checks to state and local governments based on damage estimates, and creates incentives for the speedy removal of storm debris.

Republicans have called up this bipartisan bill under a suspension of the rules, which means it will get a shorter debate and will require a two-thirds majority vote for passage. A roll call vote on the bill is expected at 6:30 p.m.

Also today, the House Rules Committee meets at 4 p.m. to approve a rule governing debate on H.R. 152, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act.

The committee will have to decide which of 92 amendments to the bill can get a vote on the House floor later this week. Many of the amendments are from Republicans, and seek to scale back the size of the bill.

The bill itself would provide $17 billion in additional aid to Northeastern states hit by Hurricane Sandy. One amendment that will get a vote is from Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), which would add another $33.7 billion in aid.

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