hurricanemaxi
Joined: 08 Sep 2011 Posts: 66
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 2:42 am Post subject: Quake in Cantor’s District Brings Politics Home |
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The 5.8-magnitude earthquake in Republican Eric Cantor’s Virginia congressional district destroyed more than 30 homes, forced two public schools to close and gave the budget-cutting House majority leader a reminder that all politics are local.
Shock waves toppled chimneys and gravestones near the epicenter outside rural Mineral, Virginia, and shut down Dominion Resources Inc.’s North Anna nuclear power station 11 miles away. Louisa County officials estimate the Aug. 23 quake - - which rattled the Capitol and other buildings in Washington and sent tremors beyond New York City -- caused as much as $90 million in damage in the county, said Mineral Town Manager Willie Harper. That exceeds the $85 million non-capital county budget for 2011-2012.
With few, if any, homes insured against earthquakes, there is “widespread damage and people can’t afford to fix it,” said Mineral Vice Mayor Bernice Wilson-Kube. Cantor’s constituents “expect him to help us” get federal aid.
Days after the quake, Hurricane Irene swept up the East Coast, knocking out power to 900,000 Richmond-area homes and causing widespread property damage in Cantor’s district.
Political Dilemma
The back-to-back disasters highlight the fiscal and political dilemma confronting Cantor and other Republican deficit cutters when the need for federal assistance is in their own backyards. The disasters also help illustrate the difficulty Cantor and other congressional leaders face balancing the sometimes conflicting interests of two constituencies: voters back home and colleagues who elected them to party positions. The House plans to debate increasing emergency disaster funding this week.
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