After meeting with Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) and other House members behind closed doors, Speaker John Boehner agreed to schedule a House vote this Friday, Jan. 4, to direct an estimated $9.7 billion to the National Flood Insurance Program to aid victims hurt by Superstorm Sandy. That vote will be followed by two more votes on Jan. 15—the first full legislative day of the new 113th Congress—on the remaining supplemental request for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, totaling approximately $60 billion.

“Numerous towns in my district in New Jersey, as well as our friends in New York and further north, are still coping with and recovering from the most destructive storm ever in our region—and perhaps the second or third most costly in all of American history,” said Smith, who represents residents of the hard hit areas of Ocean County and Monmouth County. “Today, families lack housing, businesses are in shambles, and municipalities have been decimated.” Click here to read Smith’s statement, or here to watch his statement today on House floor, or below to watch a portions of a press conference after the meeting with the Speaker.

            Smith spoke out on the House floor both today and last night near midnight to appeal to House leadership to allow a vote.