(WASHINGTON TIMES) Congress is poised to clear the final $50 billion chunk of emergency aid for Superstorm Sandy relief Monday — and in one vote, it will have used up all the new tax money President Obama won by raising rates on the wealthy in the “fiscal cliff” deal.
The tax deal that Congress and Mr. Obama reached in early January cut taxes overall but let them rise on individuals making more than $250,000 a year and families with income of more than $300,000. Those increases brought the government somewhere on the order of about $40 billion for fiscal year 2013.
The spending bill for storm recovery costs $50 billion and, coupled with an additional $9.7 billion in flood insurance money Congress passed this month, brings the total tab for Sandy to $60 billion.
