Today, U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-09) issued the following statement after House Republicans turned down an amendment to include victims of Hurricane Sandy and other recent events in disaster tax relief.

"New Jersey and other federal disaster areas were thrown aside this week without explanation," said Rep. Pascrell, New Jersey’s only member of the tax writing Ways and Means Committee. "I have always been committed to providing for federal response and recovery, but New Jersey and other states devastated from Hurricane Sandy and other disasters should get the same treatment as states destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Harvey, Irma, and Maria. All of our constituents deserve the same respect and tax relief we are rightfully giving to victims in recent deadly and devastating storms. We need to demand tax fairness going forward. Despite some of our partners on disaster tax relief voting against our bill on the floor, I will continue to push to advance our bipartisan bill."

An amendment offered by Rep. Nadler this morning and defeated on a party line vote included the full text of H.R. 3679, the bipartisan National Disaster Tax Relief Act, authored by Rep. Pascrell and Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY). The bipartisan bill would take politics out of disaster tax relief and add more robust benefits than the underlying bill to families and communities across the country devastated in a federally-declared disaster in recent years.

Rep. Pascrell twice make remarks on the floor this week to implore inclusion of Sandy and other federally-designated disasters in the disaster tax relief passed in the House. (LINK/LINK)