Paul takes another swipe at Christie on Sandy aid

In the latest flare-up of their sporadic skirmish, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) scolded Gov. Chris Christie’s (R-N.J.) “give-me-my-money-now” attitude over Hurricane Sandy aid — especially since much of the money has not been spent. 

Christie and Paul are potential GOP presidential candidates in 2016, and have chided one another in the past on the issue of Sandy relief aid.

Paul said Friday that Christie’s diatribe against Congress and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) before the aid bill got a vote in the House was unhelpful. 

“I think sort of this give-me-my-money-now was not really the best attitude,” Paul told Fox Business. “There was a tragedy, people were in need but the fact that most of the money hasn’t been spent a year later argues for maybe the money should have been given out a little bit at a time and maybe that money should have been offset with spending cuts, maybe with money we’re spending building things overseas.”

{mosads}Paul had suggested the money for Sandy cleanup be doled out one year at a time. Before the vote in January, Paul and many Republicans also argued the aid package should also be offset by equal spending cuts.  

“I think it was an invalid argument at the time and also a reason why we should spend money prudently even for good causes,” he said. 

In January, Congress passed the more than $60 billion in aid that President Obama requested, including nearly $10 billion for the National Flood Insurance Program. 

Christie has partly blamed the House’s failure to quickly pass the aid bill for the delay in spending the money. He also described the cleanup effort at an 18-to-24 month process. 

The high-profile dustup between the two potential candidates earlier this year started over national security issues, but also hit on government funding and Sandy aid. 

After Christie’s reelection earlier this month, Paul also took a swipe at Christie by calling him too moderate to win the GOP nomination for president.