Cantor: Can't afford to help you people every damn time there's a disaster

Well, Eric Cantor proves twice in one week he's a heartless bastard, but I guess you can give some credit for being consistent. With a hurricane bearing down that is so big governors all along the East Coast are pre-declaring state of emergencies and ordering mandatory evacuations, Cantor has this to say about disaster relief:

"We aren't going to speculate on damage before it happens, period," his spokesperson Laena Fallon emails. "But, as you know, Eric has consistently said that additional funds for federal disaster relief ought to be offset with spending cuts."

Of course his district is inland, so it's unlikely to suffer the real expensive damage the coastal areas are likely to see, but Cantor had the same attitude about the damage done to his constituents in this week's earthquake.

While touring the damage in his district, Cantor surmised, “Obviously, the problem is that people in Virginia don’t have earthquake insurance.” As the Insurance Information Institute notes, “earthquakes are not covered under standard U.S. homeowners or business insurance policies, although supplemental coverage is usually available.” So, for Cantor, the problem here is that Virginians didn’t have the foresight to predict an exceedingly rare natural disaster and pay out of their own pocket in advance.

You'll recall he has been consistently taking this position since the unfortunate residents of Joplin were completely wiped out by those tornadoes. So apparently, in the world according to Cantor, you can only help disaster victims if you take the money from other struggling Americans. Because you can be damn sure when he says the funds have to offset with other cuts in spending, he's sure as hell is not talking about cutting subsidies for his wealthy friends and donors.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]