National Journal writes, “New York will always be bigger. Connecticut’s richer. But if there’s one lesson from the Hurricane Sandy debate, it’s Don’t Mess With Jersey. A chippy Chris Christie set the tone early when the New Jersey governor warned fellow Republicans on Monday that they’d picked “the wrong state” to begin changing the rules for disaster aid. By Tuesday on the House floor, it was the Garden State in full bloom: “Sopranos”-style muscle, Princeton science, below-the-belt jabs, even old family debts dating to 19th-century Indian wars and Andrew Jackson. By nightfall, the end product was a bipartisan coalition that held firm — not just on the big votes to pass the $50 billion-plus aid package but on many of the smaller ones, as well. … Yet the politics were stark, and the debate, brutal and poignant at once. … He said he was thankful for the House action — albeit coming “a little late to the party.” But he was unapologetic about having called out Boehner earlier this month and said the lesson for Congress was to understand Jersey is “serious.”
18
Jan 2013
