Rep. Cantor’s district was near the epicenter of the 5.9 earthquake that shook cities and towns as far south as North Carolina and as far north as New England today. So far, we have thankfully not heard reports of any major damage or injuries in the Richmond area.
Ironically, back in March following the devastating earthquake in Japan, Rep. Cantor stood by the Republican budget, which would cut funding from disaster warning systems like the U.S. Geological Service (USGS). According to the AP, Republican budget number crunchers had toyed with cutting the USGS altogether, but settled for $27 million in cuts this year as part of the draconian Ryan budget.
In Rep. Cantor’s small (read: no) government vision of the world, investing in disaster warning systems is a waste of money. We certainly can get the private sector to take the reigns, right?
Rep. Cantor is almost as big of a fan of cutting disaster-warning systems, as he is of disaster relief. In May when a tornado devastated Joplin, Missouri, killing 159 people, President Obama announced that the people of Joplin would have the U.S. government’s full support. House Majority Leader Cantor said, “not so fast.
Rep. Cantor demanded that any aid given to Joplin would need to be offset with spending cuts. Apparently in “compassionate” conservatism, there are no free lunches for those in disaster-ravaged parts of the country. Thankfully, it looks like the damage from today’s quake is minimal. Rep. Cantor may not get an opportunity to show exactly how heartless he is by denying his constituents disaster relief.
The Daily Show focused on Cantor's "generosity" in this great clip.
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