The US Senate is scheduled to return Wednesday after the Christmas break to vote on the $60 billion Sandy aid package by Friday. But the bill’s passage in the Senate is only one the first step, with time running out.

In mid-November, news broke that the map-drawing commission was making some eleventh hour moves. There was a change to the final draft map, which moved a single block in Brooklyn. It happened to include the home of Vito Lopez, the assemblyman who was censured over sexual harassment allegations.

Since being introduced Monday, the Sandy supplemental aid package has been pilloried by conservative groups and senate Republicans for what they say is wasteful and unnecessary spending.

Conservative opposition to the White House’s $60 billion storm relief package continues to grow. Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona argued on the floor of the U.S. Senate Tuesday that the bill is rife with unnecessary and unneeded provisions.

Senators from New York and New Jersey made their case for passing the $60 billion White House relief package that was introduced Monday.

Governor Andrew Cuomo held a meeting on Friday to coordinate a broad-based push between elected officials, and business and labor leaders, to get Congress to move on more than $60 billion in Sandy relief aid.

Governor Andrew Cuomo made it clear Wednesday that he continues to have no interest in inserting himself into what he described as an “intramural” political fight between senate Democratic factions.

Despite its relatively small cost ($1.3 billion awarded so far in federal aid for the double wallop of Irene and tropical storm Lee), the experience of going through Irene is giving New York’s state and federal officials a leg up on Sandy recovery efforts. It’s also helping them to manage expectations.

The new co-leaders of the state Senate had a kind of unveiling party on Rockaway Beach on Monday when former Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Democratic Senator Jeff Klein launched a bipartisan Sandy recovery task force.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that New York City needs to work on upgrading building codes and evacuation-zone maps, hardening power and transportation networks, and making sure hospitals are better prepared for storms.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is in Washington Monday, pressing federal lawmakers for the $42 billion aid package he said New York needs in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will travel to Washington, D.C., on Monday to make his pitch for Sandy relief funds, officials said.

Homeowners hardest-hit by Hurricane Sandy may eligible for deferred tax payments as well as a possible rebate.

The City Council is set to approve a bill on Tuesday that would force pedicabs to let riders know the cost of a trip upfront.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says Sandy ran up a nearly $42 billion bill on New York and the state and New York City will make big requests for disaster aid from the federal government.

The city says some of the homes most damaged by Sandy are going to have to be bulldozed, but there's a lot of confusion over whose home and where.

The sluggish response to power outages during Sandy by the Long Island Power Authority has renewed criticism of the entity whose 10 civilian board members are mostly appointees with Albany connections and little to no experience running a utility.

If elected to Congress, Grace Meng would be the first Asian American in Congress from a state east of the Pacific coast.  But to win, she has to overcome Dan Halloran, a Republican with ties to the district that date back a century.

On This Week in Politics, WNYC political reporters run down some of the top political stories from the week that was, providing insight and analysis on local, state and national political issues that touch the region.

The city's districting commission's first pass at new council district lines sparked heated discussion when they were released last month – and now observers are anxiously waiting to see how the feedback will shape the final plan presented to the City Council next month.