According to Democratic Party leaders, FEMA has enough money for the Hurricane Sandy recovery, thanks to the fact that the fiscal year started October 1, 2012. There was over $1 billion left over in the Disaster Relief Fund already; Congress appropriated $7.1 billion for fiscal year 2013. Local officials have access to those FEMA funds.

The question is how long that will last. “This is not going to be a short-term situation,” explained New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). “This is going to be a long-term recovery and reconstruction effort, and that’s how we’re going to have to think about it.” Cuomo says that the federal government will end up covering the “overwhelming majority” of costs in New York.

Last year, Democrats refused to offset emergency spending with cuts elsewhere during Hurricane Irene.