More than 90 amendments had been filed as of Friday but just a dozen will be made in order under a resolution reported by the House Rules Committee on Monday night following nearly four hours of testimony.

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Indeed the exceptional length of the hearing rivals the abbreviated time now allowed for floor debate. After a series of embarrassing delays, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) appears anxious to put Sandy aid behind him. But in his debut as the new Rules Chairman, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) let everyone talk as if to compensate.

Chief among the amendments is one seeking a 1.63 percent across-the-board cut from all 2013 appropriations — impacting defense as well as domestic programs. As outlined by Rep. Mick Mulvaney, the goal is to fully pay for the first $17 billion tranche of the Sandy aid.

But the South Carolina Republican is sure to face resistance in his own party since the reduction from defense would come on top of automatic spending cuts already threatening the military this spring.

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“We’re not trying to delay the bill,” said Mulvaney, addressing concerns among Northeast lawmakers that the entire relief package could be put in jeopardy by his amendment. “The motive here is as simple as it looks. I just want to find a way to pay for it.”

“This is important. No question,” he added. “Is it important enough to borrow money from China to do it when we are already borrowing money from China to do so many other things? I would hope that the tragedy would allow us to come together.”

At the core of Tuesday’s debate will be a two-step process in which that same $17 billion tranche is only the starting point.

That package, sponsored by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), is almost certain to prevail and then become the underlying bill to which the Northeast will try next to add $33.67 billion. That will be done through an amendment offered by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.).

If successful, this combination — together with a previously enacted $9.7 billion flood insurance bill— would match the estimated $60.4 billion requested by the White House and adopted by the Senate last month.

Despite grumbling, it’s anticipated that Senate Democrats will embrace the House product if Frelinghuysen can succeed in what will be the pivotal vote Tuesday.

“The suffering and damage are real and the needs are great,” the New Jersey Republican told the Rules panel. “We’re counting on you to help us.”

In seeking the additional funds, Frelinghuysen is effectively going over the head of Rogers, with whom he serves on Appropriations. To win on the floor, he must have almost solid Democratic support, but influential Republicans on Appropriations have been supportive as well, despite Rogers’s posture.

Inside the Rules deliberations, for example, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) — also on Appropriations — was clearly an ally. And members joked too of Frelinghuysen’s relentless style: “I’m just looking forward to not getting another call from Rodney,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.).

Much as conservatives remain upset with the cost, the debate will be more compressed than a typical appropriations bill of this size. Massachusetts and Colorado lawmakers, seeking relief for coastal fisheries and last summer’s forest fires, were denied a chance to add to add money. But apart from Mulvaney, none of the cutting amendments are larger than $150 million and most considerably smaller.