A deficit hawk in a hurricane

HURRICANE Irene was expected to do significant damage along the East Coast. In anticipation of the storm's effects in Virginia, our 13-member congressional delegation wrote a letter to the president in support of Gov. Bob McDonnell's request for a pre-landfall federal emergency declaration. The request was approved, allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide resources to the state and local officials to respond to the hurricane.

On Monday, McDonnell, accompanied by Reps. Rob Wittman and Bobby Scott, took a helicopter tour of some of the damaged areas, including the Richmond area, the U.S. 460 corridor and Hampton Roads. At a stop in Virginia Beach, he was joined by Reps. Scott Rigell and Randy Forbes.

Noticeably absent from the tour was House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. His district, which includes the epicenter of last week's earthquake in Mineral, was hit particularly hard by Hurricane Irene. As of 5:50 p.m. Sunday, the Richmond metro area, a significant portion of which lies in Cantor's district, had the largest number of customers with power outages in the state. Approximately 65 percent of Dominion's 491,200 customers in the Richmond Metro/Tri Cities area were without power.

Prior to the devastation in his own district, Cantor took the position that no money be allocated for disaster relief unless it is offset by spending cuts elsewhere. FEMA, its funds dangerously low, made the decision to temporarily suspend some payments to other areas affected by disaster in order to pay for the damage caused by Hurricane Irene. Payment for damage to roads, schools and other buildings by tornadoes in the spring in Joplin, Mo., were among those suspended.

The Washington Post reported that the agency has been providing congressional appropriators with weekly updates on funding levels since May and daily updates beginning this month. Cantor, no doubt, was fully aware of the financial constraints at FEMA but had no problem affixing his signature to the letter asking for help in Virginia.

Monday it was reported that the earthquake impact in Louisa County was approximately $17 million, including 30 homes destroyed and 400 structures damaged.

Also Monday, Cantor reaffirmed his position that federal disaster aid should not be increased until cuts are found elsewhere.

Perhaps that is why he didn't accompany McDonnell on the helicopter tour.

The Virginian-Pilot reported Tuesday that a majority of Virginians surveyed want spending cuts to reduce the federal budget deficits but not cuts to defense or major entitlement programs. While the poll did not include a question on disaster relief, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that Virginians would not support holding up FEMA's resources until the money is found somewhere else.

Gandhi said, "There is no principle worth the name if it is not wholly good." Cantor's principled stance on deficit reduction flies in the face of the needs of his constituents and other Americans when faced with disaster. I think he acknowledged this when he signed that letter to the president.

Vivian J. Paige writes about local politics and other topics at blog.vivianpaige.com. Email: blog@vivianpaige.com.