Governor Christie’s presidential aspirations will no doubt survive his tirade against the Republican leadership in the House. He may even try to claim that his outburst helped move forward the votes on appropriating hurricane relief, now set to begin this week. But we can’t imagine that we’re the only newspaper that was put off by the governor’s denunciation of Speaker Boehner and the Republicans. We comprehend how devastating the storm was and how bitter the suffering along the shores of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. What we don’t understand is where the $60 billion is going to come from in the midst of the fiscal crisis.

We know where we’d like to see the $60 billion come from, if it comes from anywhere. We’d like to see it taken out of other programs the taxpayers are already funding. Maybe it could be cut from the federal Department of Education or from state appropriations for teachers. Maybe the House could cut back prescription drug payments. Maybe cut back on money FEMA is doling out to other districts that haven’t been so hard-hit as New Jersey. Maybe the Department of Agriculture could be cut back. Or we could retreat in the war. Or the postal system could be closed. We could get a billion for Mr. Christie by withdrawing from the United Nations.

Not to put too fine a point of it, we don’t care where Mr. Christie gets his $60 billion so long as he doesn’t get it from new revenues or configuring the Federal Reserve to print it. It’s just an ill-timed moment — the day Congress passed one of the largest tax hikes in history — to come in with a demand for another $60 billion. We’re not suggesting the people of the Garden State, Long Island, and our own city don’t deserve relief more than other people in America. Other Americans aren’t hurting as badly as New Jersey. But if they do deserve relief, they deserve it enough so that when taxpayers don’t have enough money, the money can be found by cutting other programs.

This is where Mr. Christie would be best advised to direct his wrath — not at Speaker Boehner and the members of the House who realized the inopportune moment for this enormous outlay. The place to direct the wrath is at the members of the Congress who spent on less-deserving persons and programs all the money that should have been set aside for catastrophes like that which struck New Jersey. Mr. Christie may be mad — and may have a way with words. He may be the Pavarotti of Pork. But he’s not the only one who’s mad. How does he think the rest of the country feels when the government spends their money with such an abandon that there’s nothing left for hurricane relief?