Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Eric: Democrats See Opening In Cantor's Disaster Aid Offset Talk

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 2, 2011, 6:26AM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's requirement that new disaster relief spending be funded with spending cuts has left members of his party open to attack, Democrats say, and they don't plan to waste the opportunity.

This week, the DCCC called on 25 East Coast Republican members to either stand with Cantor's call for offset disaster spending or publicly oppose it. In areas still drying out from Hurricane Irene and repairing the damage from the East Coast earthquake that preceded it, Democrats think the suggestion that federal aid should be used as another budget cut bargaining chip will not sit well with voters.

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Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann's Hurricane Irene Joke (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 29, 2011, 11:28AM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

While much of the eastern seaboard dries out from Hurricane Irene, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has found herself in hot water over the claim she made in Florida over the weekend that the storm and last week's historic earthquake were sent by God to wake up politicians in Washington to the views of the tea party.

Bachmann's campaign says the whole thing was a joke, and that's certainly how CNN played it this morning.

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Michele Bachmann

Bachmann Campaign: Bachmann Spoke 'In Jest' When She Said God Was Communicating Via Earthquakes And Hurricanes

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 29, 2011, 9:44AM

Michele Bachmann

Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) presidential campaign says critics are making much ado about nothing when it comes to her viral quote stating last week's East Coast earthquake and hurricane was a message from God to overspending DC politicians.

"Obviously she was saying it in jest," campaign spokesperson Alice Stewart told TPM in a statement.

The quote, made by Bachmann at a Florida campaign rally over the weekend, is making headlines across the Internet and TV.

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Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann: Earthquake, Irene Were A Wake Up Call From God For Politicians

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 29, 2011, 8:26AM

Michele Bachmann

For someone who began her political career mixing fundamentalist religion and public policy, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has done a decent job keeping questions about her faith at bay during her presidential campaign.

Until now.

Speaking to a crowd in Florida over the weekend, Bachmann said the historic earthquake and massive hurricane that rocked the East Coast last week was a message that God is upset with the way politicians in Washington have been doing things. The interview with the St. Petersburg Times grabbed the quote:

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Hurricane Irene

Why Republicans Might Demand Hurricane Relief Be Paid For With More Program Cuts

Brian Beutler | August 29, 2011, 6:15AM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

When a massive tornado obliterated the town of Joplin, Missouri earlier this year, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) told reporters that if the disaster ultimately required the government to step in and provide aid, it would have to be offset by cutting spending on other federal programs.

"If there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental," he said, using the anodyne language of budget policy.

Three months later, when a modest earthquake struck the town of Mineral, Virginia in his own district, and caused minor, but widespread damage along the eastern seaboard, Cantor upheld the standard. Congress, he said, "will find the monies" to help victims, but that "those monies will be offset with appropriate savings or cost-cutting elsewhere."

Now, in the wake of Hurricane Irene -- a much costlier natural disaster -- Cantor may make the same demand, which could touch off a bitter fight on Capitol Hill.

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Eric Cantor

Eric Cantor: We'll Pay For Post-Quake Relief -- If We Can Find The Cuts (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 25, 2011, 9:46AM

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R)

Never fear, earthquake-rattled citizens of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's home state: The federal government is coming to help you. If Cantor can find the cuts, that is.

Months after he took heat from fellow Republicans for his contention that the victims of the massive tornado in Joplin, MO should get federal aid only if Democrats in Washington agreed to cut the budget to pay for the relief spending, Cantor delivered a similar message to Virginians still cleaning up from a historic earthquake -- and hunkering down in advance of a massive hurricane.

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Earthquake

Park Police Survey Minor Damage To Washington Monument (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | August 23, 2011, 6:40PM

The U.S. Park Police used a helicopter to take close-up photos of minor damage that the Washington Monument sustained during Tuesday's earthquake.

A helicopter circled the landmark several times Tuesday afternoon several hours after the 5.8 magnitude quake struck in Virginia.

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Earthquake

Nope, The Washington Monument Isn't Leaning After The Earthquake

Ryan J. Reilly | August 23, 2011, 5:05PM

WASHINGTON -- Sorry Twitter, the Washington Monument isn't leaning. And tourists: that discoloration isn't a crack, and it's always been there.

TPM caught up with Park Police spokesman David Schlosser a safe distance from the Washington Monument as camera crews set up their post-earthquake liveshots. He rolled his eyes when speaking about reports that the Monument wasn't fully upright.

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