WASHINGTON -- When some Republicans sought to strip out $900 million earmarked for the Gateway Tunnel, House GOP leaders called a vote on it. Ditto when they tried to end a $1.6 billion program for New Jersey and other northeastern states with extensive mass transit.

But Republican leaders refused to vote on giving Hurricane Sandy victims the same tax breaks as those suffering losses from recent major storms.

To some Garden State residents, it's as House Republicans see New Jersey is a political punching bag to be bashed, with its federal funding diverted elsewhere.

"It's rather unbelievable that our colleagues on the other side could stoop this low," said Rep. Donald Norcross, D-1st Dist. "I've got to believe there's only one reason -- we're a blue state."

Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., said that's the hand New Jersey lawmakers are dealt.

"There are plenty of inconsistencies around here," MacArthur said. "I have to do what I can do within the realm that I can control. I don't make the rules; I have to work within them."

Frustration boiled over on the House floor this week when Democratic lawmakers, including those from New Jersey, voted en masse against giving tax breaks to victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

The legislation would make it easier for victims to deduct losses, allow them to tap their retirement funds without paying penalties and remove caps on deducting charitable contributions going for hurricane relief.

The House Ways and Means Committee said the victims of the recent hurricanes needed immediate relief. The committee chairman, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, voted against the Sandy relief bill in 2013, as did current House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

Democratic opposition temporarily shelved the tax legislation. The bill passed on its second try after Republicans prevented efforts to give the same tax breaks to Sandy victims, some of whom have yet to return to their houses five years later.

"What are they, second class citizens?" said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist. "I always learned, 'Don't start fights, finish them.' I'm going to finish this one."

Some Republicans just want to penalize Democratic-leaning northeastern states like New Jersey, said Matthew Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University.

"They hold us up as everything that is wrong about America," Hale said. "They aren't bothered by facts and don't care about fairness or honesty. To them, if we benefit in any way, it must be wrong."

House Rules Committee spokeswoman Caroline Boothe said each amendment stands or falls by itself.

"Any determination is made on a case-by-case basis," she said, "The committee welcomes all amendments from every member of the House and the committee a determination on each amendment for each piece of legislation."

The frustration crosses party lines, however. Just ask Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist.

Unacceptable & unconscionable Sandy victims not afforded same assistance in time of need or now nearly 5yrs later https://t.co/mPmE5S3EzK — Frank LoBiondo (@FrankLoBiondoNJ) September 25, 2017

Yes it is which is also why I'm publicly calling them out. My FIRST priority is #SouthJersey. People before politics. Always been. Frank https://t.co/5YbgPJTxGD — Frank LoBiondo (@FrankLoBiondoNJ) September 25, 2017

"The congressman has long derided decisions by House leadership to placate the Freedom Caucus by allowing their divisive votes but not give Republicans, like those in the New Jersey delegation and the Northeast, the same opportunity to promote good-government proposals," LoBiondo spokesman Jason Galanes said.

Even the Republican tax cut plan targets the federal deduction for state and local taxes, crucial to New Jersey with the nation's highest property taxes.

New Jersey received just 38 cents for every $1 in federal taxes collected in 2015, paid, according to the consumer website WalletHub. Only Delaware fares worse.

"We know how much in taxes we pay to the country," Pascrell said.

House Republicans earlier this month voted by more than 2 to 1 to eliminate $900 million for the Gateway Tunnel, which are needed so that the existing train tunnel under the Hudson River can be closed to help repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

The amendment to the $1.2 trillion spending bill authored by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist., was defeated due to near-unanimous Democratic opposition.

The vote came after the House approved almost $8 billion to help Texas and Louisiana recover from Hurricane Harvey. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, whose state was the beneficiary of most of the Harvey funding, co-sponsored the amendment to strip funding for Gateway.

In 2015, House Republicans voted to end a special high-density program that provided $50 million to NJ Transit and more than $1.6 billion overall to the seven densely populated northeastern states that account for about half of all trips taken on public transit.

Congressional negotiators -- who included Reps. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., and Albio Sires, D-8th Dist. -- were able to keep the provision out of the final five-year, $305 billion transportation bill enacted in December.

In both cases, House Republican leaders declined to block the votes, the way they did for the recent Sandy proposal.

"The fastest way to get support from most House Republicans today seems to be punish the Northeast," Hale said. "They seem to automatically endorse anything that hurts us."

As for Sandy tax relief, lawmakers of both parties said they would resume the push to get it at a later date.

"All of our constituents deserve the same respect and tax relief we are rightfully giving to victims in recent deadly and devastating storms," Pascrell said. "We need to demand tax fairness going forward."

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.