Cantor: Cut Budget Elsewhere to Pay for Joplin Aid

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor supports government efforts to help Missouri after nearly 150 people were killed in Joplin when a massive tornado leveled much of the city this month. But other areas of the budget should be cut to make up for that assistance, The Hill reports him as saying.

Congress will approve federal spending for Joplin, the Virginia Republican told CBS. But he likened the government to a family facing an emergency spending need that forces it to cut back other expenditures.

“Families don’t have unlimited money, and, really, neither does the federal government,” Cantor said.

Cantor began making his point about the budget on May 23, the day after the tornado hit Joplin. A House appropriations subcommittee already has come up with $1.5 billion of spending it can eliminate elsewhere to help pay for aid to Joplin.