Governor Christie Gives Thumbs Up On Sandy Rebuilding [AUDIO]

Governor Christie says he's happy with the progress we're making after hurricane Sandy, as are most people across the state.

But the fact is, "This is going to be a long haul to get people's lives back to normal, whose lives were destroyed by the storm, and the frustration is going to be getting the work done as quickly as we possibly can."

During last night's "Ask The Governor" show, he said, "On the one hand, that's going to be very good for a lot of tradesman across the state - carpenters and plumbers and electricians, who may not have been working as much, and now are going to be working a lot, as we get back to rebuilding homes and businesses across the state, but it won't happen fast enough - people will acknowledge that certain progress is being made but by the same token, unless their home is rebuilt, unless their business is reopened, it'll never happen fast enough...We're working as hard as we can, to make sure that we get the job done as well as we can get it done."

• Full "Ask The Governor" replay

When asked what the shore will look like next summer, the Governor replied he's not sure.

"I'm hopeful that you're going to see a good amount of the businesses beginning to reopen...A lot of people who had their homes damaged but not destroyed. Their homes will probably be fixed by then, but whether we're going to be able to begin to replace the destroyed homes or not is going to be determined in part by the federal money and insurance money and how quickly that flows...It's going to be a challenge, but we're up to the challenge and we're going to do it as well and as quickly as we can."

He also said he's hopeful the Fiscal Cliff negotiations going on in Washington won't affect Sandy aid for Jersey at all.

"Everyone is telling me they want to help, and help as quickly as possible, so I'm hopeful we'll see something get done here."