Funding for Joplin found in a gift to Big Oil

In Joplin, MO over 122 persons are confirmed dead, 700 are injured, and 1,500 are still missing. A huge portion of the city including its hospital is destroyed. Tornados have devastated Alabama, Mississippi, and other cities in recent weeks. Yet, the Republicans in Congress used that issue to kill a green energy bill. House Republican Leader Cantor (R-VA) would not allow the $1 billion dollar relief bill to advance unless something else was cut.

When Cantor held up the disaster funds, the House appropriations Committee acted quickly to kill a green energy bill which oil company lobbyists opposed. It is unprecedented to use disaster relief money as a bargaining chit.

<SNIP>

The House Appropriations Committee acted quickly to cut a $1.5 billion dollar program to provide loans to develop fuel efficient vehicles. This would offset the $1 billion dollar cost for disaster relief blocked by Cantor. This fuel efficient vehicle bill is a program Republicans have wanted to cut all along, but could not muster bi-partisan support. The disaster bill gave them an opportunity to further advance their big oil agenda and kill the program because Democrats could not block the disaster relief bill.


http://www.examiner.com/economic-policy-in-national/cantor-holds-disaster-relief-hostage-political-maneuver-to-kill-green-energy

These jackasses can find a way to give a gift to Big Oil in anything. It is amazing how they will use a disaster such as this for political gain and yet all their minions will see is that they were "fiscally conservative" and balanced out their spending with a cut.

and... you know, let him know you think he is a douchebag.

http://cantor.house.gov/contact/

He seems like the type of guy that enjoys receiving nasty responses from people, knowing that they probably aren't part of his base. I picture him in his office using it a "political porn" and masturbating to it until his secretary knocks on the door and interrupts him.

http://majorityleader.gov/Contact/

they are shameless. i wonder if the people will rise up before i die, or after. because i think it becomes inevitable after a certain point.

When he stated Monday cuts were going to have to be made to fund disaster relief, this deal had all ready been worked out. I was wondering what he was up to at the time.

You can tell just by looking at the weasel that he is up to no good 24/7. This is something that has been lobbied for by Big Oil for quite some time now and he was just looking for the right spot to pull the trigger. I have to guess that he has absolutely zero conscience or empathy to use disaster victims as his leverage for it. That pretty much crowns him as King of the Scumbags.

I would have to go looking for him.

There's a time for reasoned debate and then there's a time for intense physical therapy.

I looked at their votes in the last major election and they went for the Republican in each race with at least 70% of the vote. I know Roy Blunt came down on Cantor to find the funding but I am convinced that was a show as I am sure Blunt was just as complicit in this as anyone. I have to imagine there will be no change in the mindset of the Joplin voter as you know they will get the funding and Roy Blunt and their Reps will take full credit for it.

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The GOP Proves me wrong again.

way, the Tennessee Valley would still not have electricity.

RICO stand for republican?

It never ceases to amaze me how, in a case like this, the Republicans can telegraph their move, showing that they are doing exactly what the lobbyists have asked for, and yet face no repercussions down the line. Congress is the only place where conspiracy to defraud the American people is legal.

It's time to scorch the earth. EVERY Republican bill that comes forward -- and I mean EVERY bill -- should have a primary platform plank attached as a rider. You want to extend the tax cuts another 3 months? Gay marriage legalization is the rider. You want to cut $20 from the budget? (Yes, thats intentionally 20 dollars). Alright, have your budget cut. Oh, and while you're at it, enjoy the rider for ABOLISHMENT OF OIL SUBSIDIES.

Let's put up EACH and EVERY thing that they want, and attach a rider to it that is (to them) SO HEINOUS that they can't possibly vote for, and beat them to fucking death with it.

They do this because they know we don't fight back, and when we DO fight back, we do so with nuance and statesmanship. There comes a time when we need to realize these bastards want us to become extinct. They have SAID as much. There is only one way to fight a war of extermination.

<semi-rant mode, but there is -some- merit in considering what they have been doing to us and how we must defeat it>

Somewhere along the way they lost the courage to stand up for what is right and what they believe in and went the route of insuring their political livelihood. They are afraid that if they take too strong a stand on something that the people will rise up and vote them out. It is easier to pay it lip service and hope that we are too busy watching their lips move to see what their hands are really doing. There are very few politicians these days that have that courage and fortitude necessary to beat back the evil and cruel opposition that is formed by the Republicans.