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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has said Republicans will refuse to approve emergency disaster aid in the wake of Hurricane Irene unless Democrats accept comparable spending cuts. The White House isn’t impressed by Republicans’ reluctance to put Americans first.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, [White House press secretary Jay Carney] said the federal government’s priority should be to respond to the disaster. He also noted pointedly that Cantor hadn’t demanded offsets when the Bush administration rang up “unprecedented bills.”
“I guess I can’t help but say that I wish that commitment to looking for offsets had been held by the House majority leader and others, say, during the previous administration when they ran up unprecedented bills and never paid for them,” Carney said, according to a White House pool report.
The White House spokesman said it was premature to make a decision yet on the costs of Hurricane Irene for the federal government.
As brush-back pitches go, this is pretty mild, but the underlying point seems critical. If Republicans, including Cantor, were simply obsessive about offsets and fiscal responsibility, we could at least have a debate over the wisdom of their policy.
But their demands are a sham. The Majority Leader and his caucus said wars didn’t have to be paid for, tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires didn’t have to be paid for, Medicare expansion didn’t have to be paid for, No Child Left Behind didn’t have to be paid for, and the Wall Street bailout didn’t have to be paid for.
More to the point, GOP lawmakers didn’t even care about paying for responses to natural disasters. In 2005, Republicans didn’t pay for the response to Hurricane Katrina, and in 2004, after his area was hit by a tropical storm, Cantor personally pushed for immediate emergency aid from the Bush administration, without regard for comparable cuts.
But if hurricane victims in 2011 need emergency relief, all of a sudden Eric Cantor can’t possibly support aid without offsets?
Please.
In the meantime, Michael “Heckuva Job” Brownie, the former horse association official who the Bush administration hired to run FEMA, told Fox News this morning that he fully supports congressional Republicans’ decision to block disaster aid until Democrats accept cuts.
And if there’s one person who has credibility on disaster-relief policy, it’s good ol’ Michael Brown, right? He’s quite an ally for Eric Cantor and House Republicans.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, meanwhile, told reporters this morning, Congress’ principal concern should be “whether we need to protect the safety and security of the people that we are all privileged to represent,” adding, “Congress knows that this is historically the way disaster relief funding has been handled.”
My sense is that Napolitano knows full well that Republicans aren’t putting “safety and security” first, and couldn’t care less about American norms and traditions, but said this as a way to help establish the basis for debate.
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mr.irony on August 30, 2011 1:12 PM:
2004....and 2005?
back when "deficits didn't matter.."
good times...
Stevio on August 30, 2011 1:14 PM:
Don't hold our collective breaths waiting for Cantor and his ilk, or for that matter, the Blitzers of the TV world to respond to such logic. We'd be lucky if Wolf even asks the question. Even if he did, Cantor would change the subject and Wolf would do a involved follow-up...
Marko on August 30, 2011 1:17 PM:
Enough of this Cantor/White House banter. Was does Bonehead have to say about all this?
Live Free or Die on August 30, 2011 1:20 PM:
I guess it is a start. Not exactly brass knuckles, but at least its a start. I would have said that first, the GOP wanted to hold the US credit and economy hostage, then they wanted to hold airline safety hostage, now they want to hold disaster victims hostage. Can you ask Cantor to the White House a list of all of the hostages that they plan to hold in 2011, so we can plan accordingly?
RepublicanPointOfView on August 30, 2011 1:21 PM:
The Honorable Congressman Cantor is absolutely correct!
We should not indulge in frivilous spending unless we find corresponding cuts in spending elsewhere.
A suggested list of spending cuts:
> NOOA & National Weather Service - there would not have been a hurricane if NOOA and the NWS had not said there was going to be one
> FEMA - if there is no NOOA & NWS to tell us we are having disasters, we will not need FEMA to respond to them
> National Guards - when we stop sending the Guard units overseas and when we no longer have hurricanes and disasters then we no longer need the National Guards (except maybe to subdue future rioters against our corporately controlled governments)
Thank you Congressman Cantor for your inspired leadership!
c u n d gulag on August 30, 2011 1:32 PM:
And Obama should say, "Sure, and any offsets will come from Rep Cantors district!"
Robert Abbott on August 30, 2011 1:32 PM:
Virginia routinely enjoys more federal spending than its citizens pay in federal taxes. New York and California routinely pay more in federal taxes than they receive in spending. Virginia is a giant welfare queen with respect to the rest of the country. Now Cantor wants everyone else in the country to forego some degree of federal spending while Virginia takes emergency relief funds. He has got quite a scam going.
POed Lib on August 30, 2011 1:34 PM:
Time for Obama and the Bipartisanshit Fairies in the White House to take off the fucking blinders and get with the PROGRAM! Don't take this shit lying down. BLAME THE REPUKELISCUM!! Tell Virginia "You are in Cantor's district, you get money last, IF ERIC ALLOWS THERE TO BE ANY."
Anonymous on August 30, 2011 1:34 PM:
"And if there’s one person who has credibility on disaster-relief policy, it’s good ol’ Michael Brown, right? He’s quite an ally for Eric Cantor and House Republicans."
Not only did the Republicans give this brain dead crony all the money he wanted when he was in charge of FEMA, without any need for offsetting cuts in other programs, but they congratulated his job performance as he threw the money away through his total inability to manage the agency. Do we all remember the contaminated mobile homes that he bought by the hundreds?
J.T. on August 30, 2011 1:36 PM:
I know it would be unseemly to celebrate a disaster, but I honestly don't understand why Democrats aren't pleased with Cantor's position on this. The Dems still control enough of the Senate to either hold a vote on a bill to finance disaster recovery or to hold a cloture vote on the filibuster of such a bill. Make the Rebuplican senators from North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Maine vote NOT to aid their states. Show the American people that the Republicans ARE NOT GOING TO HELP THEM.
dricey on August 30, 2011 1:38 PM:
Good start. Now the WH needs to repeat this constantly on as many news programs as possible and organize a flying column of talk-show guests to saturate the morning 'news' programs and Sunday blatherfests to hammer it home. What I think we've seen too much of is one-time criticisms of GOP callousness that get lost in the GOP's tidal wave approach to messaging. And what we emphatically do not need, especially given Obama's anemic post-debt ceiling ratings on leadership, is for the WH to call the GOP leadership to task on this, and then compromise with them.
Bartender on August 30, 2011 1:39 PM:
If Cantor and company want to continue with their hostage appropriations (I STILL can't believe the Democrats went along with this cock-'n-bull strategy during the debt fight), fine, just resume doing it on your watch the next time a republican is in the White House and not before. Then you can tell YOUR president that he (or she) will not get emergency appropriations unless they cut back on their own legislative agenda.
liam foote on August 30, 2011 1:41 PM:
The hostage taking technique will not end until these clowns are voted out in 2012. Their main mistake, other than pervasive immorality, is that they vastly underestimate the perceptivness of the American public, more of whom turn against them every day.
Danp on August 30, 2011 1:56 PM:
Now come on. Maybe Michael Brown now realizes he could have saved some money by not shipping bottles of water back and forth around the country, like he did after Katrina.
hopeless pedant on August 30, 2011 1:57 PM:
How about this -
now more additional funds for Afghanistan until we take the money from someplace else.
see how long that flies....
Redshift on August 30, 2011 1:58 PM:
Then you can tell YOUR president that he (or she) will not get emergency appropriations unless they cut back on their own legislative agenda.
You presume motivations that don't exist. The objective is to prevent spending by Democrats on programs that the public might like, and force cuts in them. Pretending to be "fiscally conservative" is just a tool to that end, and the governing they are actually elected and paid to do is an annoying distraction.
Bobsled on August 30, 2011 1:58 PM:
The GOP is in full blackmail mode. This will only help their standing with the shrinking teabagger crowd.
Sane individuals will see it for what it really is - political theater.
jjm on August 30, 2011 2:04 PM:
Cantor is neck and neck with Dick Cheney for the biggest jackass in US history.
martin on August 30, 2011 2:09 PM:
Real or The Onion? Ok, it's The Onion, but damn it's getting harder and harder to distinguish
WASHINGTON—With a massive wildfire currently raging out of control in his district, Tea Party Caucus member Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) pressed Congress to pass immediate tax breaks Tuesday to combat the rapidly spreading blaze. "This fire has already burned hundreds of square miles and left thousands of helpless families with only one hope: across-the-board income tax cuts and a sharply lower corporate tax rate," said Franks, stating that broad-based tax relief would spur investment and extinguish the towering flames that grow larger by the minute. "We must act now. The longer the oppressive tax burden on honest, hardworking individuals remains unaddressed, the larger and more deadly this fire will become." According to staffers, Franks plans to honor the nine individuals who have perished in the blaze by introducing additional legislation this week that would eliminate Medicaid.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/tea-party-congressman-calls-for-tax-breaks-to-put,21242/
SYSPROG on August 30, 2011 2:09 PM:
I know I am repeating myself but...they are HYPOCRITICAL AHOLES! When Obama 'offset' the cost of the oil cleanup, the 'Pubs defended BP for pete's sake. They whine and obstruct...just to DO it. Cantor? Shove it up your skinny ass...or as Jon Stewart would say, F' YOU!
DZ on August 30, 2011 2:11 PM:
My God, just introduce a disaster relief aid bill and dare the Republicans to block it. Is it really that hard?
hopeless pedant on August 30, 2011 2:15 PM:
DZ
Yes, there are ways around this, but this would be an appropriations bill, and it must originate in the House, and under the rules of that body (same is true when Dems control it) the majority party controls what legislation is introduced. So basically, without Boehner and Cantor's OK, there is no bill.
So the public would have to understand that they aren't even allowing it to be introduced.
MuddyLee on August 30, 2011 2:21 PM:
Democrats: it's time to fight. Threaten Cantor with delaying all disaster related expenditures in Virginia until he shuts up. Then reduce ALL federal spending in Virginia and Kentucky (because of McConnell) drastically so we can take care of Vermont and New York. And then let's have some serious IRS audits of Cantor and his financial supporters.
hopeless pedant on August 30, 2011 2:21 PM:
To add -
what they'll do is introduce a bill with offsetting cuts, pass it and then run ads against Dems from affected states who voted against it saying, your Representative voted against emergency aid.
Then when it dies in the Senate, they'll blame Dems for it once again.
DRF on August 30, 2011 2:30 PM:
I can't help but think that the "he didn't object to the same thing in the Bush Administration" approach is relatively weak.
The White House response should be:
1. Cantor and the Republicans want to hold disaster relief hostage to their other demands. Victims of hurricanes, floods, tornados, etc. will have to wait for the Federal government assistance while Cantor uses the tragedy to negotiate for his agenda items.
2. Cantor and the Republicans want to play politics with disaster relief funding.
3. Let Cantor tell his fellow citizens of Virginia that they won't get Federal government assistance the next time a disaster hits their homes.
Joe Friday on August 30, 2011 2:35 PM:
"Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, [White House press secretary Jay Carney] said the federal government's priority should be to respond to the disaster."
All talk, no action. They will be pre-negotiating until they end up with offsets.
When the time comes, Harry Reid and the Senate Dems should pass the disaster relief bill and send it over to the House and let the Republicans vote it down.
THEN the White House can remind people that we've always enacted disaster relief as an emergency legislation, and that the Republicans voted for it, and that they didn't care about offsets for all their massive deficit-causing legislation in the past.
bob h on August 30, 2011 2:42 PM:
Are we to believe that when the hurricanes start striking their usual victims along the Gulf, the likes of Haley Barbour are going to decline aid? When Texas is struck, will Perry say no? These dummies are putting their asses in a sling.
hopeless pedant on August 30, 2011 2:45 PM:
Also time to ask Rick Perry what his opinion is.
Right after totalling up the amount of disaster relief Texas has gotten since he became governor (starting with Katrina).
sparky on August 30, 2011 3:08 PM:
Fox news brings Micheal Brown out of hiding to offer his professional opinion on disaster response and the best he can do is political babble. Makes about as much sense as Fox's habit of bringing John Bolton out to comment on foreign policy..Are there nothing but idiots in their roladex?
Jack Hammer on August 30, 2011 3:45 PM:
If you have to chip off a chunk of the government to offset relief for every natural disaster, in no time said government will be small enough to drown in a mud puddle!
Then what?
pea on August 30, 2011 4:16 PM:
Just one more way for Eric to keep O from stimulating the economy. Fixing things broken by disasters might lead to jobs and spending, heaven forbid.
How does this play among teabaggers and other GOP supporters who've been hit by a storm, tornado, etc? Do they really want to give up their assistance in rebuilding? Do they "get it" now? I'm not holding my breath...
Woodrow L. Goode, IV on August 30, 2011 5:49 PM:
I guess I should be happy that the White House followed my advice in my comment about yesterday's item on this... but it's like listening to Celine Dion sing AC-DC.
A politician with enough sense to pour piss out of a boot would use the phrase "playing politics with peoples' lives" and "extreme right-wing agenda." Cantor can ignore this, while Faux News points out another example of a failed president trying to blame an earthquake and a hurricane on his predecessor.
A week from now, when there's no aid going out, we'll see stories about Obama's Katrina, with people comparing the amount of Aid that Emperor W. the Godly dispatched immediately to the dearth of aid. We can count on Virginia's wingnut Governor to say he's had a plan in place for a week, but no one from FEMA has stepped up.
Meanwhile. the people blocking it will charge that the Obama Administration has done nothing to help the victims pointing out that it offered to negotiate a bipartisan compromise, with the spending cuts needed to make it revenue neutral, hold down the deficit and grow the economy.
At which point, having completely screwed the pooch, we can look forward to cuts in more social programs-- and the polls showing another 2-3% drop in questions about effectiveness.
I'm not looking forward to the Perry Administration, but
at least I wouldn't have to watch these idiots shoot themselves in the heads any longer.
yellowdog on August 30, 2011 8:36 PM:
@sparky on August 30, 2011 3:08 PM:
In answer to your question: Yes. Idiocy, real or pretend, is the only way to get on the list.
A Little Reason on August 31, 2011 1:53 PM:
I understand the impulse to want to deny Virginia any relief funding, but let's remember the following: Not all Virginians are represented by Cantor or, for that matter,any Republican. There are, in fact, many people in Cantor's own district who didn't vote for him; indeed, there hasn't been a serious, qualified, well-funded or DNC-supported candidate to run against Cantor or to vote for for some time - the Democrat Party seems to have abandoned Democrats in Cantor's Seventh District by apparently writing it off as too Red. As my own parents live in that district, I can tell you that is NOT the case. Cantor's miney-making political machine is too strong for independent or non-supported Dems to seriously compete against.
Also, the wealth of our entire country's economy and infrastructure hinges on tbe health and prosperity of its citizens. People without homes, business owners who lose their businesses, goods that can't reach the people and businesses that need them and materials needed to rebuild entire communities that can't get to those people hurt ALL of us. To turn the Teabagging idiots' conceit against them and quote a Founding Father, Ben Franklin, "We must all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall hang separately."
So let's refrain from calling for punishing states-full of innocent people, and go after the people doing the true punishing- Cantor, Ryan and their ilk.