If there’s one thing that should never become the object of political maneuvering, it’s disaster relief to U.S. communities. At least that was the position Democrats in Congress took recently when Republicans suggested they would only be willing to authorize a temporary release of funds to the Federal Emergency Management Agency if a similar amount of money were cut from some other part of the federal budget.

The Republican proposal came in September in the midst of a partisan debate over unrestrained government spending versus fiscal accountability by public officials. Democrats tried to push through a stopgap spending bill that would allow the government to keep on spending like an heiress with a trust fund, while their Republicans played the part of the mean old accountants demanding that the credit cards be cut up and returned.

The FEMA-funding debate was a sideshow in that circus, spotlighted by Democrats wishing to portray their opponents as mean-spirited, heartless souls who did not care whether folks in Kansas would be forced to live in the streets after their homes were leveled by a tornado. Conservative lawmakers, of course, held no malice for the victims of natural disasters and were eager for them to get aid, but they wanted to be sure the promise of that aid was covered by corresponding savings in other parts of the budget. Their position, however, was largely lost in the noise of manufactured outrage.

Less than a month later, though, Virginia is faced with what appears to be a real case of politicizing disaster relief, as FEMA, which operates under the direction of the president, has denied disaster relief to the people of Louisa County, who during that same period have been hit by an earthquake, a tornado and a hurricane. The earthquake alone damaged close to 1,000 homes, according to Senator Jim Webb, but FEMA has refused to provide individual assistance to homeowners.

One important note about the town of Louisa: It’s located in Virginia’s Seventh Congressional District, represented by Republican Eric Cantor, who just happened to be the leader of the congressional budget battle back in September and who has proved to be a major thorn in the side of the Obama administration and the profligate liberal wing of Congress. Given that information, it’s almost impossible to consider FEMA’s snub to be a coincidence.

Considering the conservative voting record held by Fourth District Rep. Randy Forbes, another Republican and another strident voice for fiscal restraint, Suffolk residents should be especially thankful they were mostly spared significant damage from Hurricane Irene. In light of the Louisa situation, it’s questionable whether they would have received any federal help, no matter how badly things had turned out.