In the midst of everything else Congress had to worry about this week, the senate tried its best to jam a $60.4 million relief package for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the coast of the Northeast, down the throats of American taxpayers.

Anyone with even a shred of decency is concerned about the victims of Hurricane Sandy and would likely be willing to help out in any way possible, including the use of the tax dollars.

However, the bill proposed by the senate was laden with pork that included, among other projects, putting a new roof on the Smithsonian, providing more funds for the Head Start program, building new rail lines for Amtrak and providing funds for fisheries in Alaska.

The American people are being treated unfairly - shocking, we know - by some greedy senators who have no concern whatsoever about the needs of storm victims. Tacking on projects that had nothing to do with the effects of this storm is a shameful action and we're glad to see the bill, in its present state, was shot down.

However, on the other side, the indignation shown by the elected officials from the areas that were affected was for show, not out of any genuine concern. If those officials really did care, we believe a bill would have passed long before now; however, now they're simply afraid of being voted out of office because of their inaction.
One lesson learned in the rebuilding of New Orleans is that throwing money at a tragedy does not ensure that all will return to normal.

We want to see our country's hurricane victims helped, including the use of our tax dollars, but not at a cost that's blatantly unfair.