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capitalreport US House Approves $51 Billion for Hurricane Sandy Relief, Helps Ful��ll White House $60 Billion Target The U.S. House of Representatives passed by a vote of 241 to 180 in January a $51 billion aid package to provide emergency relief and funding for long-term structural repairs to the region devastated by Hurricane Sandy, TIME reported. This is the frst major legislation of the 113th Congress. Democrats supported the bill almost unanimously, and 49 Republicans helped to pass it, many of them from Sandyaffected areas. President Barack Obama���s administration wanted a $60 billion aid package, which was passed by the Senate late 2012. Congress allocated about $10 billion earlier in January to fund food-insurance programs, which, combined with the House bill, fulflls the $60 billion target. The House���s Sandy relief bill was broken into two packages. The frst, authored by Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), was a $17 billion tranche of mostly emergency funding. The second, authored by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), contained about $12 billion in long-term development projects open to almost all states, which some House Republicans disapproved of as earmarks. The frst package passed easily, unlike the second, which only had 38 House Republicans supporting it. Republicans control the House, but the Sandy aid package showed divisions within the party. It also had Speaker of the House John Boehner conficted: He violated the Hastert Rule by bringing the bill to the foor without the majority support of the ruling party. Congressman Paul Broun Questions NOAA���s Termination of NWS Sandy Assessment In a��letter��to NOAA, U.S. House��Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Paul Broun (R-Ga.)�� has requested additional clarifcation on NOAA���s rationale for terminating a National Weather Service (NWS) assessment of Hurricane Sandy.��Broun also questioned the limitations and independence of the new assessment. In response to an earlier letter from Broun, NOAA gave two reasons for terminating the frst service assessment team: a potential interest in initiating a broader federal collaboration and speculation that the original assessment team would have violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) due to the participation of nonfederal employees. Broun���s follow-up letter questioned why NOAA would prohibit external advisers because of FACA: ���If the Sandy service assessment team was terminated because NOAA and NWS were concerned about violating FACA, then they must have also violated FACA on several prior weather service assessments that included outside experts. Conversely, if those previous assessment teams did not violate FACA, then this rationale makes no sense.��� Broun also questioned the diminished scope and independence of the new charter. He sees it as giving a lot of control to a limited number of senior NOAA employees, including Administrator Jane Lubchenco, who must approve the public release of the service assessment report 68 st / FEBRUARY 2013 www.sea-technology.com