Hurricane Irene, Eric Cantor, and the Hostage-Taking Politics of Disaster Relief

At a time like this, of course, it is essential that government emergency services, particularly federal, be ready to help those areas that need relief. Think of the people who will need food and shelter, the infrastructure that will need to be repaired and possibly rebuilt, the devastation that may soon come.

Think back to Katrina. We learned a lot from that catastrophe, did we not?

Well, not all of us.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor didn't -- or at least doesn't seem to care.

Just as Republicans held the country hostage over the debt ceiling ("give us what we want, or else"), Cantor is now trying to do the same over disaster relief (some of which may be needed in his home state of Virginia, which is in Irene's path). As his spokesperson explained, "Eric has consistently said that additional funds for federal disaster relief ought to be offset with spending cuts."

It's one thing to demand offsets in theory, or even at the negotiating table, quite another to do so with a major hurricane bearing down, with a natural disaster possibly at hand. It would be like if a dying man desperately needed a blood transfusion but you refused to give him any unless he gave you his house and car. (Which is actually how health care works in the U.S., but let's not go there.)

(Source)


According to Rep. Eric Cantor there will be no relief for hurricane damage until it's offset by spending cuts.

So, while we're sending billions of dollars to Egypt, Israel and other wonderful countries, we can't afford to protect our own country. Of course we can, but there's going to be some Bill with fine print that cuts spending for 'Main Street.' However, I propose we use the money Cantor was able to swindle from the bailout to pay for it:

I am totally amazed that these two media sources you linked would say such a thing.

reply to post by FusionInFL


A liberal said it, so it must be false!

I think that the reality of modern civilization will break the Tea Party in time. It can't be popular to demand spending cuts when the nation has come to expend and depend on massive spending for public services like this. They try to whittle away little by little, but I don't think they can pare down the state without eventually alerting the public.

Originally posted by FusionInFL
I am totally amazed

that these two media sources you linked would say such a thing.

Does that make it false? I'm not sure I understand what you're implying...