WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today issued the following statement regarding the Obama administration's request for $60.4 billion in supplemental funding to address Hurricane Sandy and other disaster relief needs:

"The Appropriations Committee intends to work as expeditiously and as cooperatively as possible to review this disaster assistance request.  My state of Mississippi is no stranger to the damages caused by natural disasters like Sandy, and I understand the desire for recovery assistance to be made available quickly. To that end, I will work with my colleagues to analyze the administration's recommendation and move toward responsibly providing additional federal disaster recovery funds."

Cochran and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye have recently had meetings with delegations from New Jersey and New York to discuss federal disaster recovery assistance related to damages caused by Sandy.  Federal disaster recovery was also the subject of a Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/VkTX3E).