Angry Republican Rep. Peter King Tells New Yorkers Not to Give Money to GOP Following No Sandy Vote

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Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) excoriated his own party Wednesday after House Republican leadership scrapped a vote on a Hurricane Sandy relief bill, calling on New Yorkers not to give a single penny to House GOP members.

"This is absolutely indefensible, this is inexcusable," King said on Fox News. "These Republicans have no problem finding New York when they’re out raising millions of dollars. They’re in New York all the time filling their pockets with money from New Yorkers. I’m saying right now, anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans is out of their minds. Because what they did last night was put a knife in the back of New Yorkers and New Jerseyans. It was an absolute disgrace."

King said there were rumblings Tuesday night that the $60 billion aid measure might get pulled, but said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) assured him there would be a vote once the "fiscal cliff" was dealt with.

"We confronted John Boehner on the floor and asked him," King said. "He goes 'no, wait until the fiscal cliff vote is over, we'll take care of it.' We were told it was 99 percent certain...the speaker walked off the floor, told an aide to the majority leader that the Congress was finished, there were no votes, and then they came back and told us."

King said he wasn't taking it as a personal offense, but as an offense for the thousands of people in his district and the hundreds of thousands of people in the affected areas. He said Congress appropriated $60 billion in aid 10 days after Hurricane Katrina, but that there hasn't been one cent nine weeks after Sandy.

“All we’re saying is treat us the same everybody else has been treated,” King said. “Why the Republican Party has this bias against New York, this bias against New Jersey, this bias against the northeast? They wonder why they’re becoming a minority party? Why we’re going to be the party of the permanent minority? What they did last night was so immoral, so disgraceful, so irresponsible. They’re supposed to be the party of family values, and you have families that are starving, families that are suffering, families spread all over living in substandard housing. This is a disgrace."

He added, "They are inexcusable and as far as I'm concerned, I'm on my own. They're going to have to go a long way to get my vote on anything."

King said it was a particular betrayal to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who crisscrossed the country campaigning for Republicans during the election.

"He went everywhere for Republicans all over the country, and what do they do? They knifed him in the back," he said.