Eric Cantor, the number two Republican in the House, led the GOP charge against Obama's stimulus package, and he's remained critical of that spending ever since.
"We were told that we could expect results, and now with the results that we've got, we are told we should be expecting different results," the Virginia Republican said. "The American people understand that this is not a success story."
Cantor went on to characterize the White House’s announcement as just "a continued increase in government spending," which Republicans are not "very supportive of."
And more criticism in this op-ed he wrote:
The President claims that the stimulus has "created or saved" 150,000 jobs, but it's impossible to quantify a "saved" job. The fact that despite trillions in federal spending, an average of 10 out of every 100 Americans are now unemployed proves that still more spending is not the answer.
Well, Republicans like Cantor aren't very supportive of spending, since it's simply just not the answer. That is, unless it's spending for job creation in their own districts.
But Cantor didn’t think Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package was a good idea, and so he rallied overwhelming GOP opposition to it in the House in February. He garnered similar party-line resistance in April to the president’s budget.
But now Cantor wants some of that money for Virginia.
He can’t be serious, said Jessica Santillo, DCCC’s southern regional press secretary. "Rep. Cantor led the fight against the economic recovery package that is providing these historic federal investments in high-speed rail projects," she said.
Obama’s economic recovery package provided $8 billion in federal funds for the nationwide transportation initiative. States are now applying for the money through the Federal Railroad Administration.
Cantor, in supporting the rail funding for Virginia last week, said he and others had recently worked to "shed partisan politics" in the name of job growth [...]
"Now that the stimulus bill is the law of the land, Congressman Cantor supports high-speed rail in Virginia to help create the environment for tens of thousands of new jobs," she said.
Got that? The stimulus package won't be a success story in creating new jobs, except when they can create tens of thousands of jobs in his home district. How convenient. How hypocritical.
Seems like the time to "shed partisan politics" would've been when Congress voted on the stimulus spending, not now when it's time to spend the money they voted against.