House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at the 2011 Union for Reform Judaism convention. Photo: Union for Reform Judaism.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who supported the fiscal cliff deal reached between the Republican party and the Democratic Party under the direction of President Barack Obama on New Year’s Day, clashed with congressmen who opposed the fiscal cliff deal and who criticized Boehner for his decision to pull another bill that would have sent relief resources to Hurricane Sandy victims.

In particular, Jewish House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie clashed with Boehner. According to Politico, Boehner chose to pull the Sandy relief bill primarily to spare the Republican party from having to vote on another $60 billion spending bill right after a vote on such a major and contentious fiscal cliff deal. Cantor had voted against the fiscal cliff deal and then sent one of his aides to confront Boehner regarding the Sandy bill. In a heated exchange, the aide told Boehner that the majority leader’s office wouldn’t be giving them “cover” on the decision.

Christie, governor of a state where many areas were ravaged by the recent hurricane, also expressed anger at Boehner and the GOP for pulling the Sandy bill. “What I will tell you is there is no reason for me at the moment to believe anything they tell me,” he said in a Wednesday news conference.

However, the issue came to a resolution with a vote scheduled for this Friday to send flood insurance aid and a decision to vote on a full disaster aid package in mid-January. U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) said that Cantor and Boehner simply “had a difference of opinion—as we all do—but they are on the same team and working toward the same goals, and the kicker is that they were both unanimously elected by our conference with each nominating the other,” he said.