The GOP presidential candidates and other prominent conservatives spoke today at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida. This afternoon, Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) took to the stage to talk about “successes” in his state, including decreasing the state’s unemployment rate to 10.7 percent — which he noted is still well above the national average.

In the next sentence, though, Scott touted another “success” — laying off 15,000 public sector workers, which of course increased the unemployment rolls in his state. Scott then declared, “government can’t create jobs”:

SCOTT: We’ve had plenty of success so far. Not enough…In Florida, unemployment rate’s gone from 12 percent down to 10.7. We’re still above the national average, but we’ve generated 87,200 private sector jobs — private sector! And we have 15,000 less government jobs in the state of Florida. [Applause] Government doesn’t create jobs.

Watch it:

Scott’s reminder that he laid of thousands of Floridians drew big applause from the conservative crowd. At least 600,000 government workers have lost their jobs since the recession began, but Republicans nevertheless keep scapegoating public employees who have shouldered more than their fair share of economic pain.

In fact, massive job losses in the public sector are one of the main factors keeping national unemployment so high. In August, a gain of 17,000 private sector jobs was completely negated by 17,000 public sector job losses. According to David Leonhardt, if state and local governments had continued to hire at their previous pace, they would have added half a million jobs to the economy. In other words, government austerity over the past two years “has cost the economy about one million jobs.”

If you’re poor and live in Michigan, you just can’t catch a break from the current Republican administration under Gov. Rick Snyder (R-MI). Beginning next month, many Michigan residents on food stamps will lose their benefits under a new law that tightens eligibility requirements.

Seizing on any excuse to kick people out of the program, Republicans have mandated that recipients’ assets be scrutinized, in addition to their income, which has traditionally been the only measure that was considered when deciding eligibility. People with cars worth over $15,000 could be disqualified:

Michigan has determined food assistance eligibility based only on income for roughly a decade. A new policy will include a review of certain financial assets starting Oct 1.

The requirements will affect new applicants right away and existing recipients when their cases come up for review, which typically happens once every six months.

Those with assets of more than $5,000 in bank accounts or some types of property would no longer be eligible for food assistance. Other assets that would count against the cap include vehicles with market values of more than $15,000 and second homes, depending on how much is owed on the properties.

Nearly 2 million people — or 20 percent of Michigan’s population — depend on food stamps. The number of recipients has increased by more than 40 percent since the recession started.

Opponents of the new requirements point out that they punish poor people who try to save up money in their bank accounts and discourage them from saving more, which perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Gilda Jacobs, CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services, said the change may “force some deserving families to sell assets, like cars, they bought when times were better.” “If we’re trying to make sure people are viable and can stand on their own, why are we going backwards?” she asked.

The stricter requirements also unfairly impact the staggering number of Michigan residents who are essentially trapped by their homeownership and are struggling to get by because they owe more in debt on their homes than the houses are worth.

The Associated Press notes that Snyder’s administration has been trying to kick people off the food stamp rolls since taking office, as “the state removed about 30,000 college students from its food assistance program earlier this year when it began enforcing federal guidelines.”

House Republicans finally pushed through their continuing resolution early this morning after finding yet another $100 million in spending cuts that satiated the conservatives who wouldn’t approve disaster relief funds without matching offsets. Immediately after it passed, spokespersons for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) took to Twitter to warn Senate Democrats against blocking funds for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), despite the fact that a bipartisan Senate majority passed a $7 billion FEMA relief package a week ago.

At a news conference today, Boehner and Cantor themselves joined in those warnings, attempting to blame Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and his Democratic colleagues for blocking disaster relief funds. Cantor, who has repeatedly insisted that the House would not approve disaster relief funds without offsets, blasted Reid for “blocking” funds that victims of multiple natural disasters needed:

CANTOR: As the Speaker indicated, there are people who are suffering in a big way, and they need to know that FEMA and the disaster relief monies will be there for them.

Watch it:

That’s an interesting change of position for Cantor, who was the first Republican to mention exchanging disaster relief funds for spending offsets in the wake of the tornadoes that hit Joplin, Missouri in May. Cantor again insisted on offsets after the East Coast earthquake that was centered in Mineral, Virginia — the heart of his own district. And for good measure, Cantor again noted that offsets were necessary for disaster funds after Hurricane Irene battered states along the East Coast from North Carolina to Vermont.

Democrats in both the Senate and House have been attempting to approve disaster relief without massive spending offsets to popular programs, including those that once had broad Republican support. And they haven’t been alone in their opposition. Cantor’s actions on disaster relief earned him rebuke from multiple Republican governors and put him out of step with former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay (TX), who pushed through deficit-financed disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Shortly after midnight Friday morning, House Republicans pushed through a six-week continuing resolution that would extend the government’s spending authority into mid-November. The House failed to pass a similar resolution Wednesday when 48 Republicans voted against it because funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was not, in their view, sufficiently offset.

To fix that problem, House leaders persuaded 23 Republicans to change their votes by buying them off with an additional $100 million in spending cuts, proving yet again that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) assertion that no one was holding disaster relief hostage for spending cuts was false. And despite holding up FEMA funding for more than a week, Cantor and Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) offices immediately took to Twitter after the vote to announce that it was Senate Democrats who were holding FEMA funding hostage. Read tweets from Cantor spokesperson Brad Dayspring and Boehner spokesperson Kevin Smith:

But as Brian Fallon, spokesman for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) noted in his response to Dayspring and Smith, a bipartisan Senate majority already approved $7 billion to fund FEMA last Thursday, a full week before House Republicans approved a much smaller package last night.

The Senate package also passed on its second try after Senate Republicans successfully blocked Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) first attempt to bring the bill to the floor. The House GOP is now planning to recess today without coming to an agreement with the Senate.

Republicans brought the government to the brink of shutdown in March, and Republican leadership has held disaster relief funding hostage since tornadoes hit Joplin, Missouri in May. Now, with the American people turning against their lack of leadership in Congress and Republican governors rebuking them on disaster relief, it appears the GOP’s only answer is to attempt to blame Senate Democrats for blocking funding they already passed.

For Sale: $100 Million

On Wednesday night, House Republicans failed to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded beyond Sept. 30, as 48 Republicans cut ranks with their leadership and voted against the measure (as did all but six Democrats, who object to the bill’s level of disaster aid and cuts to a clean vehicle manufacturing program). House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was reportedly incensed at the members who abandoned him on the vote, deriding them as “know-it-alls who have all the right answers.”

But early this morning, the House was able to pass a CR, after Boehner and the Republican leadership added a $100 million cut to a Department of Energy clean-energy loan program. Other than that cut, the bill was exactly the same as the one the House defeated on Wednesday. But the additional cut was enough to entice 23 Republican members into flipping their votes. They were:

Wednesday’s roll call vote is here and today’s is here. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) did not vote Wednesday night but voted for the CR today. Six of the flippers are members of the official Tea Party caucus.

Not only did these Republicans switch their vote due to the addition of a single $100 million spending cut to a $1 trillion bill, but the cut is to a program that, until recently, Republicans supported. The motivation for including the cut is that it’s from the program that funded the tech company Solyndra, the right’s favorite punching bag at the moment.

The Senate has already approved a continuing resolution that funds disaster aid at a higher level than the House and doesn’t cut vehicle manufacturing. But instead of attempting to forge a compromise, Boehner and the House GOP decided to buy 23 votes via a single spending cut.