Federal aid for Hurricane Harvey? Or payback for Texas 'no' votes on Sandy?

With damage assessments from Hurricane Harvey likely to grow into the tens of billions of dollars, the talk in Congress has already turned to federal relief efforts.

One problem is that politicians have long memories.

To wit: Hurricane or "Superstorm" Sandy, which battered New York and New Jersey in 2012.

Some regional leaders, notably New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, are reminding their colleagues in Texas that almost all of their Republican representatives in Congress voted against a $51 billion aid package for Sandy.

Now the heat is coming down on Texas Republicans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, who were among 36 senators who voted against the relief package.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was among 36 senators who voted against the relief package for Superstorm Sandy.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was among 36 senators who voted against the relief package for Superstorm Sandy. Photo: Drew Angerer, Staff Photo: Drew Angerer, Staff Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Federal aid for Hurricane Harvey? Or payback for Texas 'no' votes on Sandy? 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

"Congressional members in Texas are hypocrites and I said back in 2012 they'd be proven to be hypocrites," Christie, a Republican Trump ally, told reporters Monday.

Christie's comments followed a tweet over the weekend from New York U.S. Rep. Peter King, also a Republican: "Ted Cruz & Texas cohorts voted vs NY/NJ aid after Sandy but I'll vote 4 Harvey aid. NY wont abandon Texas. 1 bad turn doesnt deserve another"

Both Cruz and Cornyn have defended their votes on Sandy, saying that they were trying to stop efforts by the Obama administration and Democrats to add unrelated spending to the legislation.

"Hurricane funding is a very important responsibility, and I would have eagerly supported funding for that," Cruz told CNBC Monday. "But I didn't think it was appropriate to engage in pork barrel spending, where two-thirds of that bill was unrelated spending that had nothing to do with Sandy and was simply politicians wasting money."

Cornyn also has explained his "no" vote on the Sandy relief bill as opposition to extraneous spending.

Among the items funded in the final spending package were appropriations for the Smithsonian, Head Start and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, programs that some argued were either affected by Sandy, or which could help mitigate future disasters.

Cornyn did vote for a stripped-down amendment that provided about half of the requested aid. That vote came before Cruz had taken office in January, 2013. His predecessor, Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, also supported the smaller amount.

A Cornyn aide said Monday that he also voted for emergency relief bills funding recovery efforts in response to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike, and Wilma at different points over the last 10-plus years. "The Sandy relief bill that ended up passing unfortunately contained provisions unrelated to the storm and 'emergency' money that wasn't requested by local officials there," he said. "He voted for a Sandy aid package without this unrelated spending, which funded things like repairing fisheries in the Pacific."

Congressional Republicans at the time also were demanding that dollars spent on Sandy be offset by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. It remains to be seen whether that also becomes part of the Harvey debate.

Of the Texas members in the House, only Houston Republican John Culberson joined Democrats in voting for the final 2013 Sandy aid package.

With the recovery from Harvey still in the early stages, Cruz said the funding battle for Harvey can wait.

"There will be plenty of time for politics and I'm not going to worry about political sniping," he said. "My focus here is on the tragedy that's unfolding, people who's lives are in jeopardy, and the people who need help."