WASHINGTON — Northeastern Republicans, long outnumbered and overshadowed in their own party nationally, erupted in fury Wednesday after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives blocked a measure that sought to provide billions of dollars in aid to New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other states hit by Hurricane Sandy.
The depth of the anger was extraordinary and extremely personal, with one Republican after another venting their anger at one man in particular, Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, who quietly moved to keep the bill out of office early in Wednesday morning after a whirlwind marathon meeting on budget issues.
Representative Michael G. Grimm, a Republican whose Staten Island district was among the hardest hit, threatened not to vote for Mr. Boehner in the speaker election this week. Representative Peter T. King, Republican of Long Island, whose constituents also suffered huge losses in the storm, urged New York's wealthy donor community not to contribute to Mr. Boehner's Republican majority.
The resulting anger appeared to shock Mr. Boehner a bit, who quickly sought to play down any political fallout. After meeting with Republican lawmakers from the storm-hit region, he pledged to bring a $9 billion aid package to the floor on Friday and a $51 billion package on Jan. 15.
“Providing critical aid to the victims of Hurricane Sandy should be a top priority in the new Congress,” Mr. Boehner said in a statement released with Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House Republican majority leader. “This was reaffirmed today with members of the New York and New Jersey delegations.”
But it was unclear whether Mr. Boehner could undo the damage he had done.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a possible Republican presidential nominee in 2016, said Mr. Boehner refused to take his calls on Tuesday night. He accused House leadership of duplicity and selfishness, saying inaction “is why the American people hate Congress.”
After finally reaching Mr. Boehner on Wednesday morning, Mr. Christie cast doubt on the speaker's words in his characteristically blunt manner.
“I'm not going to go into the details of what I discussed with John Boehner today,” he told reporters in New Jersey. “But what I will tell you is that right now there's no reason to believe anything they're telling me. Because they've been telling me things for weeks, and they haven't succeeded.”
Rep. King later struck a more conciliatory note. “This process that has been set out is absolutely acceptable,” he said, reacting to the timetable presented by Mr Boehner. “The fact is, we're getting what New York and New Jersey need, and that's what counts.”
Rep. Grimm also seemed relieved, saying he would support the speaker after all.
As much as the outcry spoke to extreme disunity in the Republican ranks, it also underscored another political reality: the relative lack of influence that Northeastern states like New York have in the House, a chamber dominated by conservatives from the South and Midwest.
In many ways, lawmakers from the region often have to contend with the perception, fair or not, that the region they represent is a liberal bastion that is politically and culturally out of touch with the rest of the country.
The district's political standing in the House is such that top New York politicians have turned to prominent New York businessmen with close ties to the Republican Party in an effort to get House leaders to pass a disaster relief package.
The businessmen, all major political donors, included titans like Kenneth Langone, the entrepreneur and co-founder of Home Depot. Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman of Goldman Sachs. Jerry I. Speyer, chairman and co-CEO of the Tishman Speyer real estate empire; and Terry J. Lundgren, chairman and chief executive of Macy's, according to people familiar with the lobbying effort.
Last week, a $60.4 billion aid package passed the Democratic-led Senate, much friendlier political ground for the district, where Charles E. Schumer, New York's senior senator, is part of the leadership and helped to package promotion. House Republicans had said they were moving toward a vote on the package Tuesday night.
But Mr. Boehner had angered many top conservatives in his caucus by touting a Senate-passed tax bill they say did not contain enough spending cuts to bring the nation's deficit under control. After that bill passed the House, with significant Democratic support, he appeared disinclined to further alienate conservatives in his caucus by forcing them to pass a deficit-adding disaster relief bill on the eve of a vote on whether he will continue his speech, according to lawmakers and congressional officials.
Some members of Congress said the aid package was too large and bloated with unrelated items, including $150 million for Alaska fisheries and $2 million for museum roofs in Washington. Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, suggested the aid request was influenced by its size. “Sometimes when you ask for too much, you don't get anything,” Mr. Blunt told CNN.
As anger grew over the House's decision not to hold a vote on the aid measure, President Obama called Mr. Christie and Governor Andrew M. Cuomo of New York on Wednesday and issued a statement calling for an immediate House vote.
“When tragedy strikes, Americans come together to support those in need,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Cuomo, after meeting with his cabinet in Albany, told reporters on Wednesday that House Republicans had “delivered on their word.” He said that Mr. Boehner and Mr. Cantor had specifically told him that the vote would be held on Tuesday.
“I think it was a dereliction of duty,” said Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat. “Leaving New York and New Jersey and thousands of people this holiday season alone and abandoned was wrong and shameful in many ways. I think it was unprecedented.”
Mr. Cuomo had lobbied hard for the bill. After Christmas, when he took his daughters on a skiing trip to Whiteface Mountain, the governor stayed off the slopes and made phone calls, reaching Mr. Cantor on his cell phone and checking in with company executives who called House Republican leaders. . On New Year's Eve, he spent the drive from the Adirondacks to the Executive Mansion in Albany making more calls.
“I don't know what else I can do,” he said.
“There was never any substantive discussion of the bill,” he added. “It was all politics, and it was all Republican politics, frankly.”
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a political independent, also lobbied hard, speaking regularly with Republican leaders and members of the New York delegation. He said that while he was “disappointed” he would not criticize the Republican leadership because Mr. Boehner “assured me that this would be looked at in January.”
