Cantor to Unemployed: Drop Dead

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Dave Weigel notes today that Republican House Whip Eric Cantor sent out an email blast today opposing a bunch of safety net extensions, including extension of unemployment benefits, COBRA subsidies, Medicaid matching rates, and child credits. Says Dave: “Attacking this stuff — and implying that a Republican majority would cut off these benefits — is something an opposition party can do, but something very hard to imagine a Republican congressional majority getting away with.”

Maybe.  But this morning on the Imus show Cantor doubled down:

We haven’t had a discussion in Washington this year about wealth creation, about job creation. It’s all been about trying to provide more safety net, trying to take from those who have been able to create wealth and opportunity and redistribute it. You know, that’s not the America that any of us know.

So there you have it: no help for the unemployed, just more tax cuts for the rich.  Sounds pretty Republican to me!

(What’s that? you say.  Cantor didn’t say anything about tax cuts for the rich?  Sure he did.  He just said it in code.  Read his statement again.)

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate