Why Would Eric Cantor Insist on Paygo for Irene Disaster Relief?

Eric Cantor stated his position:

"Yes there's a federal role, yes we're going to find the money -- we're just going to need to make sure that there are savings elsewhere to continue to do so," Cantor told Fox News on Monday.

Cantor has suggested before that we don’t have the money for additional government spending. And I guess if one were foolish enough to believe we were near full employment, one might worry about the crowding-out of private spending. Cantor, however, undermines both claims with his August 29 memo that claims its agenda is to create new jobs with part of his policy message being tax cuts. On policy grounds – Cantor has no principled reasons for this application of paygo.