Metro-North's Port Jervis Line bet. Sloatsburg and Harriman, flooded by Tropical Storm Irene (
MTA/
CC BY 2.0)
It looks to me like GOP freshman Nan Hayworth just shoved Hurricane Irene's foot into her mouth. After Hayworth put out a statement asking President Obama for federal help for her flood-ravaged district, her opponent, physician Richard Becker, demanded to know whether Hayworth agreed with Eric Cantor's call for budget cuts to offset any disaster recovery spending. In a subsequent interview, Hayworth certainly sounded a lot like Cantor:
“We're facing a natural disaster in the middle of an economic disaster,” Hayworth said Wednesday. “The federal government has to balance its budget the way our families do.”
She said there are “plenty of options” for government to find the money in “non-military discretionary funding,” and it should be a collaborative effort between members of the House and Senate.
“Spending is going to be pared down significantly. There's no question about it,” Hayworth said.
This is about as tone-deaf a response as you can come up with when people are suffering so badly and so visibly, and desperately seeking leadership and aid. Becker followed up with a further statement of his own, hitting Hayworth yet again, so I'm glad to see he's got a little punch to his game. Hopefully he'll also help shame Hayworth into abandoning this sick notion of engaging in budget cuts during a moment of great crisis — but I wouldn't count on it.