(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)



New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reacted angrily to a fight brewing in Washington over whether Hurricane Irene disaster aid may need to be offset by federal spending cuts. “Our people are suffering now, and they need support now. And they [Congress] can all go down there and get back to work and figure out budget cuts later,” the Republican governor told a crowd in the flood-ravaged North Jersey town of Lincoln Park.

Yesterday, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell rejected Eric Cantor's insistence on finding cuts before delivering disaster relief. Now it's fellow Republican Governor Chris Christie's turn

Eric Cantor, of course, has been insisting that Congress find offsetting spending cuts before delivering emergency aide to Hurricane-damaged regions of the country, a truly bad idea. He hasn't always been such a jerk about this, by the way: in 2004, for example, he supported disaster aide without offsets. In 2008, he supported TARP without identifying offsets. And he also supported invading Iraq and the Bush tax cuts without offsets.

President Obama will visit New Jersey on Sunday to tour storm damage.