Human weasel Eric Cantor wants FEMA disaster funds held hostage to a vote on more spending cuts

[brentspeak]

You can bet that federal subsidies to Cantor's defense contractor buddies in his home district will not be among those programs "offset".

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/08/29/306737/cantor-irene-no-relief-without-spending-cuts/

Cantor: No Disaster Relief Funding For Hurricane Irene Without Budget Cuts

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Aug 29, 2011 at 11:23 am

Despite the devastation caused by Hurricane Irene this weekend, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) today stood by his call that no more money be allocated for disaster relief unless it is offset by spending cuts elsewhere. The Washington Post reported this morning that http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fema-to-pay-for-irene-damage-delays-funds-for-rebuilding-in-tornado-ravaged-areas/2011/08/28/gIQAJsDQlJ_story.html">FEMA will need more money than it currently has to deal with the storm’s aftermath and is already diverting funds from other recent disasters to deal with the hurricane, but Cantor’s comments suggest Republicans won’t authorize more funds without a fight.

Cantor took the position following the tornadoes that devastated Joplin, Missouri and elsewhere in the spring and summer, and after last week’s earthquake, the epicenter for which was in his district, but the hurricane’s level of destruction is far beyond that of those disasters. Still, Cantor told Fox News that while “we’re going to find the money,” “we’re just going to need to make sure that there are savings elsewhere to do so.”

Cantor referred a bill the Republican-controlled House passed that approves http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/24/joplin-missouri-tornado-h_n_866242.html">$1 billion in disaster relief, which was financed by a $1.5 billion cut from loan program to encourage the production of fuel-efficient vehicles. But the need in the wake of the hurricane will likely greatly surpass $1 billion, and that spending package was supposed to be used for tornado recovery efforts, for which http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=56907">several hundred million dollars has already been outlayed.

[aquart]

1. Well, this will be entertaining.

If only the major flooding had been in NH and Maine instead of Vermont.

[CTyankee]

2. Keep it up, Bozo.

You're digging your political grave, buddy. There comes a point where the people just get so pissed off, they can't wait to throw you out of office. This may be that point...

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. I wonder how many people are going to go along with THIS?

Will the hate radio propagandists be able to spin this in their favor, particularly to those people living in the affected areas? :shrug:

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Let's see Cantor stand up to the tidal wave he's generating:

Cantor: No more money will be allocated for disaster relief unless it is offset by spending cuts elsewhere. We must cut the deficit, not just prevent it from being increased.

Homeowner: I don't have anywhere to live. I lost my house.

Business Owner: If I can't re-open by next month, I'll have to declare bankruptcy. And if I lose my business, I lose my home.

Plattsburgh, NY: We lost our town. We have nothing.

Port Jervis, NY: We lost all rail service to the City and can't get to work without driving 2 hours each way on congested highways and the tolls are about to go up.

Little Falls, NJ: Our neighborhoods are underwater.

Boonton, NJ: I-287 is washed out due to the floods.


Who's going to "win" this debate?

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Seriously, I don't think there are enough Congress Critters who could get away with,

"My constituents _want_ a balanced budget" right now. Too many are recovering from natural disasters at this time or bracing themselves for more, since hurricane season is not yet over. (Of course, this assumes that people are watching what their Congress Critters do and say. Some may be oblivious, and a lot are just too busy working or recovering. :()

[aquamarina]

5. Did I miss something?

Cantor is now the Majority Leader. Did Boner resign? What did I miss?

[bulloney]

7. Boehner is House Speaker. He's still leader of the House. Majority Leader is #2.

[aquamarina]

11. Oops - Thanks for the clarification - brain not working this a.m.

[Shadowflash]

8. Why not?

Every time they do this the Dems and the President fold and give them most of what they want. What's the incentive for them NOT to do this when it works out for them each and every time.

[Angry Dragon]

9. I say as long as the republicans are blaming god for all this

then all the christian churches should cough up all the money to fix things
let's start with liquor officer robertson and then all the fundy churches

[Hepburn]

10. I think you misspelled "waste."

In your thread titled, didn't you mean to say "human waste" Eric Cantor? :shrug:

:hi:

PS: Cantor: What a total fucking asshole to the max. Just seeing him on TV or even hearing him makes my skin crawl. WTF is wrong with this total idiot? His district gets hit by disaster and he wants to fuck over the citizens he represents? Jebus H. Fucking Christ!

[dembotoz]

12. so while they wait for offsets and approvals those on site witness katrina federal fuck up

part 2 thru infinity

[Ganja Ninja]

13. If the Democrats had any balls at all they would ...

offer a proposal for cutting every GOP favored expense in exchange for the relief money. When they reject that they should offer to eliminate the Bush tax cuts. When that fails they should offer to cut weapons programs. When that is denied they should repeat the first offer and then the second and repeat and repeat and repeat all the way to 2012.

[moondust]

14. No more deficits

would seem to imply the creation of a gigantic rainy day fund reserved for disasters and emergencies. As if Republicans are even remotely capable of allowing a big rainy day fund to accumulate without draining it into their pockets the first chance they get. Killing the Clinton surpluses--that would have retired the debt--with foolish tax cuts was essentially Job One for the Bush administration. Some would even suggest that they were so single-mindedly absorbed in formulating and passing the tax cuts that they didn't have time for anything else--including the al Qaeda threats they were warned about.