The Stakeholder
Cantor Ramps Up Hypocrisy on High Speed Rail
Republican Minority Whip Eric Cantor ramped up his hypocrisy on Virginia's high-speed rail today, saying he doesn't "see any inconsistency" in supporting funding for the project, despite voting against the funding, and excluding it from his own stimulus proposal.
"Representative Eric Cantor not only voted against funding high-speed rail in Virginia, he excluded it from his plan," said Jessica Santillo, Southern Regional Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Representative Cantor's hypocritical attempts to take credit for high-speed rail funding that he tried to kill show how out of touch he is with Virginia's needs."
Representative Cantor's voting record and actions show that he was a lead opponent of the economic recovery package that provided this high-speed rail funding, and worked to defeat the measure on Capitol Hill.
Background
- Roll Call: "Even with his support for the rail line, Cantor said the larger stimulus package was a mistake. ‘I don't see any inconsistency there,' he said." [Roll Call, 7/6/09]
- Representative Cantor's alternative stimulus plan did not include high-speed rail funding [GOP Economic Recovery Alternative, 1/28/09]
- Representative Cantor said he believed Virginia should receive federal funds for high-speed rail. [Cantor seeks funds for high-speed rail in Va., Culpeper Star-Exponent, 6/20/09]
- However, Representative Cantor voted against the Economic Recovery package passed by Congress, which included an unprecedented $8 billion for high speed rail. [NPR, 2/24/09] [Roll Call Vote, 2/13/2009]
- Representative Cantor also tried to claim he supported the high-speed rail project in Virginia in April. [Richmond-to-D.C. high-speed rail route gets support, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 4/25/09]
- Virginia is competing for economic recovery funds for a high-speed rail project between Washington, D.C. and Richmond Virginia. [Richmond-to-D.C. high-speed rail route gets support, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 4/25/09]
- On Meet the Press, Representative Cantor also decried high-speed rail as a "type of waste and pork-barrel spending," and claimed that the stimulus plan included a "train from Disney Land to Las Vegas." As David Shuster pointed out the next day, there is not funding for such a line but there is $8 billion in funding for high speed rail. [NBC, Video Here]
