Cantor Wants to Hold Disaster Relief for Tornado Hostage

Absolutely, mind-blowingly shameful behavior from Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Cantor suggested that the House should hold disaster relief for the deadliest tornado in the past half century hostage for the sake of his political ideology. From Think Progress:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Monday that if Congress passes an emergency spending bill to help Missouri’s tornado victims, the extra money will have to be cut from somewhere else.

“If there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental,” Mr. Cantor, Virginia Republican, told reporters at the Capitol. The term “pay-fors” is used by lawmakers to signal cuts or tax increases used to pay for new spending.

Fired Up Missouri has information about how you can help tornado victims.

Another Attack On Missouri Workers

The Message of the Day from the Missouri AFL-CIO, noting the extreme cynicism of Republicans attacking public workers immediately after many in the St. Louis area worked day and night over the weekend to help get Lambert Airport up and running after a devastating tornado:

On April 26 the Missouri House Committee on Workforce Development and Workplace Safety will hear SB202, a “Paycheck Deception” bill sponsored by Senator Jason Crowell. Crowell is the sponsor of many anti-worker bills this session, including an attempt to gut Missouri’s minimum wage law; to raise taxes on renters; and right to work for less, which seeks to eliminate union rights.

SB202 is called “Paycheck Deception” because the motivation behind the bill isn’t clear at first glance. It means to silence the voices of public workers like nurses, teachers and first responders, including so many that have been working around the clock over the Easter holiday weekend to repair and rebuild after the devastating tornadoes, storms and flooding.

It is wrong to launch attacks on the public workers who serve our communities after tornadoes and other natural disasters hit, and the thousands of other public employees that protect and serve our families and community.

The tornadoes and severe storms over the weekend caused such damage to communities across the state including Lambert Airport in St. Louis. Due to warning systems in place, there were thankfully no fatalities and few serious injuries, although there are so many now in need that have lost homes and suffered other damage.

Missouri union members have been working around the clock to rebuild after the storm, to re-open the airport and to help those injured or in need. That Lambert Airport has already been able get back to work is remarkable and is thanks to the cooperation of local elected officials and the governor, and the dedication of so many public workers that spent a holiday weekend away from their families to protect and serve our families and clean up after such devastation. During and after the storms, public workers risked their own safety to protect our community.

How ironic it is then that tomorrow the Missouri House Committee on Workforce Development and Workplace Safety is hearing SB202. This politically motivated attack seeks to silence the voices of first responders, nurses, teachers and other public workers. It doesn’t create any jobs or help to rebuild after the tornado but instead means to punish the very workers that serve our communities when the need is greatest. Attacks like SB202 and other legislation meant to take away workers’ rights and ability to collectively bargain are wrong for Missouri. After the events of the weekend, the Missouri House needs to take another look at what’s really important to our community and work with dedicated public workers instead of attacking those working for us.

Will Nieves and Lembke Save St. Louis From Tyrannical Federal Disaster Relief?

Astute observation from Blue Girl and Shark Fu:

I can only assume that Nieves and Lembke will make sure to resist the tryannical federal government's attempts to enslave Goldman Sachs executives by forcing them to give a portion of the pocket change they pay in taxes to cleaning up the tornado damage in St. Louis. It's almost as oppressive as having taxpayer money go to children in public schools who should be busy working in the mines.