Tornado Alley (PROG)

[BullNBear52]

I don't know whether you saw this but I'm stunned by Cantor's response to the disater. I guess it really has become a tit-for-tat world.

McCaskill tells GOP leader that Joplin shouldn't be 'political football'

UPDATED: At 4:55 PM with statement from Rep. Cantor's office.

WASHINGTON • House Majority Leader Eric Cantor endured criticism on blogs this week when he said that aid to Joplin in the aftermath of the devastating tornado would be offset by budget cuts.

Cantor, R-Va., told reporters on Monday that "if there is support for a supplemental (appropriation), it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental."

Today, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., directed some of her words to Cantor in a Senate floor speech reporting what she had witnessed touring the tornado wreckage in southwest Missouri.

"With all due respect to Congressman Cantor, I have a hard time believing that if this were in his congressional district, he would be talking about how additional disaster relief would not be available unless we found some other programs to take it from," she said.

"It must be available. This must not be a political football. We must provide the assistance. That's what federal tax dollars are for, is to provide assistance when there is no assistance available to communities and states because of the wrath of Mother Nature," she added.

"We must be there for them. We all must stand with Joplin; all of America must stand with Joplin, and we will."

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., also responded to Cantor, his former deputy in the House GOP leadership.

"We need to prioritize spending, and this needs to be a priority," Blunt said, speaking in Joplin yesterday. "I'm sure Eric will help find the necessary offsets."

Brad Dayspring, spokesman for Cantor, responded this afternoon by saying that Cantor believes that Joplin needs aid urgently and is prepared to act.

"Obviously the people of Joplin and Missouri are facing a terrible tragedy, and our hearts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Federal spending must be prioritized, and clearly emergency funding for disasters such this are an urgent priority --and Congress stands ready for a request for funding from President Obama," he said.

Dayspring added that because FEMA believes that disaster relief money will run out before the fiscal year ends, programs have been ended "to ensure that money is available to help people coping with other tragedies like this one without adding to our debt."

McCaskill, in her floor speech, told colleagues that she had never before seen the level of devastation that she flew above and walked through in Joplin yesterday.

"The pain is palpable on these people's faces and that is why it is so important that we don't lose sight of what they're going to need over weeks, months and yes, even years," she said.

McCaskill said that for now, outsiders could be most helpful by donating money and giving blood.

"We're going to need to sustain support for this community far beyond the headlines, far beyond the satellite trucks going home," she said.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/article_fc05837e-86f2-11e0-8152-0019bb30f31a.html