Eric Cantor

Cantor: Health Care And Tax Fights Will Be Decided By The Election

Brian Beutler | January 23, 2012, 3:51PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) urges the Senate to vote on the house-passed jobs bill during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on October 27, 2011.

At a briefing with a handful of reporters in his Capitol suite Monday afternoon, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor outlined the coming year on Capitol Hill -- one he said would be marked by increased oversight of the Obama administration; an ongoing debate between the parties about how best to grow the economy; and what he called a bipartisan effort to prevent automatic cuts to defense spending from kicking in at the end of the year.

But the two issues that have most divided the parties since President Obama took office -- the two most consequential pieces of the budget and the U.S. economy -- will most likely be decided by the election.

Read more »

House Republicans

'Our Members Are United': House GOP Brushes Off Tax Cut Defeat

Sahil Kapur | January 18, 2012, 11:55AM

John Boehner

House Republicans began 2012 by shaking off their defeat in last month's payroll tax cut standoff, conceding that the timing of their rebellion was less than ideal but insisting they're united for job creation and against President Obama in the new year.

"We've got a lot of disparate voices in our conference. The President wanted the payroll tax cut extended for a year, and so do we. We didn't think the Senate would leave, but it was pretty clear the Senate wasn't coming back," House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters Wednesday. "We were picking the right fight. But I would argue, we probably picked this at the wrong time."

Read more »

Recess appointments

Republicans Press House GOP Leaders To Pick Public Fight Over Obama Recess Appointments

Brian Beutler | January 11, 2012, 1:00PM

House Speaker John Boehner with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the foreground.

This post was updated at 1:21 p.m. to reflect comment from House GOP Leadership.

President Obama's recess appointment of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray could create another internal headache for Republican leaders in the House, many of whose members want to pick a public fight with Democrats over the controversy.

Scores of House Republicans have signed on to a non-binding resolution disapproving of Obama's four winter recess appointments -- Cordray, and three members of the National Labor Relations Board -- all fodder for conservatives, who are furious about the existence of these agencies, let alone the recess appointments themselves.

"It's astounding to me that the president is claiming these are recess appointments and within his authority, when Congress was not in fact in recess," said Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) who authored the resolution. "These appointments are an affront to the Constitution. No matter how you look at this, it doesn't pass the smell test. I hope the House considers my resolution as soon as we return to Washington so we can send a message to President Obama."

Read more »

Debt Ceiling

White House Avoids Fight With GOP Over Debt Limit Hike

Brian Beutler | December 30, 2011, 1:28PM

President Barack Obama

Remember how the Obama administration planned to alert Congress of its intent to raise the debt limit by today? Well, that's getting kicked back a few days.

An aide to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says the White House has assured Republicans they will not issue the debt limit request this week, heading off a confrontation between the administration and the GOP over Congress' power under the debt limit law to block the increased borrowing authority.

Under the terms of the August debt limit agreement, the administration was given the right to raise the debt limit by $2.1 trillion in three tranches, nearly unilaterally. The catch was that Republicans reserved the right for the House and Senate, within a narrow time frame, to block the increase. This caveat was largely symbolic. Democrats control the Senate and wouldn't undermine President Obama by triggering another debt limit crisis -- and even if they did, Obama would reserve the right to veto the so-called "resolution of disapproval." But it's a ready-made talking point for the GOP.

Read more »

John Boehner

House GOP Coalesces Around Plan To Reject Bipartisan Payroll Tax Compromise

Brian Beutler | December 19, 2011, 9:29PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Houser Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

After a much-longer-than-anticipated caucus meeting Monday night, House Republican leaders announced a plan to vote Tuesday to nix a broadly bipartisan Senate stopgap bill to extend the current payroll tax cut for two months. But they won't be doing this with a standard up or down vote.

The development comes after House conservatives launched a full scale rebellion against a Senate bill negotiated by Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that passed with an overwhelming 89 votes.

However House Republicans are aware of the political peril that will come with killing a bipartisan plan to extend the payroll tax cut, and they know they'll likely be held responsible if the tax holiday expires. So they're structuring the votes in a manner that's designed to give their members cover from that charge and, perhaps, preserves their right to reconsider the Senate bill in the coming days.

Read more »

Super Committee

Crunch Time On Super Committee As GOP Goes Silent, Even On Tax Increases

Brian Beutler | November 14, 2011, 1:55PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

To illustrate just how down to the wire negotiations of the deficit Super Committee have become, GOP leaders have gone entirely silent -- even on the question of higher taxes.

At his weekly Capitol briefing with reporters Monday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) deftly swatted away about a dozen questions about the panel's negotiations, or the likelihood that they'll reach an agreement by the November 23 deadline set forth in the debt limit bill. The committee doesn't need outside pressure from him, he said.

This included my own question about tax increases. President Obama has pledged to veto deficit legislation that doesn't match every dollar in entitlement benefit cuts with a dollar in tax revenue taken from wealthy Americans. I asked Cantor if a Super Committee report meeting that standard could pass the Republican House. He declined to answer.

Read more »

Jobs

Senate Dems Face Major Challenge On Key Part Of Obama Jobs Bill

Brian Beutler | November 1, 2011, 5:55AM

Senate Democrats will continue to force Republicans to filibuster popular pieces of President Obama's jobs bill in the days weeks ahead -- to bolster their narrative that Republicans would rather see the economy fail than help Obama, or raise taxes by even a fraction of a percent on millionaires and billionaires.

But sometime between now and the end of the year, Dems will either have to interrupt their strategy or risk watching as two key provisions that helped bolster the economy this year lapse, and threaten what's already expected to be modest economic growth in 2012.

Read more »

House Republicans

House GOPers Were For Withholding Biz Tax Before They Were Against It

Susan Crabtree | October 26, 2011, 6:10AM

House Speaker John Boehner with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the foreground.

House Republicans are crowing about leading efforts to repeal an impending 3 percent withholding tax on government contractors as yet another way they're rolling back the regulatory burden on businesses to help spur economic growth and job creation.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) on Tuesday touted the withholding repeal, which the House plans to take up Thursday, and pressed President Obama to jump on the bandwagon.

"We're bringing up 3% withholding bill to help gov'ts & their contractors at all levels work in a more efficient way so prices don't go up," Cantor tweeted. "Hope the President will join us in supporting this because this is a provision in his bill & we have used a pay-for that he's embraced."

Read more »

Eric Cantor

UPenn Says Eric Cantor's Speech Was Always Open To Public

Benjy Sarlin | October 21, 2011, 4:31PM

Eric Cantor's office says the GOP Majority Leader cancelled an economic speech at the University of Pennsylvania because the school reneged on a deal to keep the audience restricted to students and faculty. But UPenn says the event, which was the target of planned protests, was always open to the public.

According to a statement from the school:

"Wharton deeply regrets that the event scheduled at the School this afternoon with MajorityLeader Eric Cantor has been cancelled. The University community was looking forward to hearing Majority Leader Cantor's comments on important public issues, and we hope there will be another opportunity for him to speak on campus.

The Wharton speaker series is typically open to the general public, and that is how the event with Majority Leader Cantor was billed. We very much regret if there was any misunderstanding with the Majority Leader's office on the staging of his presentation."

In announcing Cantor's decision not to deliver his much-anticipated speech on Friday, his spokesman said UPenn was "unable to ensure that the attendance policy previously agreed to could be met," citing concerns that the general public would be allowed inside and that protestors organized by Occupy Philadelphia and a coalition of progressive and labor groups would be permitted to gather on campus.

Although Cantor, didn't deliver his scheduled speech, his office released his prepared remarks to the campus paper.

Eric Cantor

Eric Cantor Called For 'A Steve Jobs Plan' In Prepared Remarks For Cancelled Speech

Benjy Sarlin | October 21, 2011, 3:20PM

Eric Cantor may have cancelled Friday's lecture on income inequality out of concerns protestors would dominate the audience, but you can still read his prepared remarks, in which the congressman calls on students to take after Steve Jobs and start their own business. The GOP Majority Leader's office sent the complete speech to The Daily Pennsylvanian, UPenn's campus newspaper.

"There is a ladder of success in America," Cantor wrote. "However, it is a ladder built not by Washington, but by hard work, responsibility and the initiative of the people of our country."

He offered his own family as an example, recounting how his grandmother managed to make a life in America after emigrating from Eastern Europe even though "in the early 20th century, the South wasn't often the most accepting place for a young Jewish woman."

Cantor addressed the growing debate over whether the rich are paying their fair share, but never mentioned the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, whose planned protests led to his speech's cancellation, by name.

Read more »

Eric Cantor

Eric Cantor Cancels Income Inequality Speech After Protests Planned

Benjy Sarlin | October 21, 2011, 1:41PM

Updated at 3:44 PM ET

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is abruptly pulling out of a scheduled Friday lecture on income equality at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School, according to the school.

Progressive and labor groups, including Occupy Philadelphia, MoveOn.org, the local AFL-CIO, and AFSCME, were planning a protest for the event. According to Cantor's office, the Congressman pulled out after discovering that the speech would be open to the public and seeing reports that the university was allowing protestors to gather on the campus itself.

"The Office of the Majority Leader was informed last night by Capitol Police that the University of Pennsylvania was unable to ensure that the attendance policy previously agreed to could be met," Cantor spokesman Brad Dayspring said in an e-mailed statement. "Wharton is a educational leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, and the Majority Leader appreciated the invitation to speak with the students, faculty, alumni, and other members of the UPENN community."

In a statement, the school denied that they had changed their rules as to who could attend the event in advance of the speech.

"The Wharton speaker series is typically open to the general public, and that is how the event with Majority Leader Cantor was billed," the university said. "We very much regret if there was any misunderstanding with the Majority Leader's office on the staging of his presentation."

Mike Morrill, executive director of Keystone Progress, which is organizing the protests, told TPM that the demonstration will continue regardless of whether or not Cantor proceeds with the speech.

"If he has in fact cancelled it says he's willing to meet with the elites but not willing to meet with the 99%," he said. "As soon as he hears there's going to be everyday folks outside...he decides to cancel."

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, Mark Nicastre, condemned Cantor's decision to cancel the speech as well.

"Majority Leader Eric Cantor canceled his speech on income inequality after his office learned the speech was open to the public," he said in a statement. "It shows that Eric Cantor is afraid to face the public with his policies because he knows that Republicans are wrong on the middle class. Republican policies, driven by the Tea Party, have favored corporate special interests over the middle class - from the Republican plan to end Medicare as we know it to Republican opposition to investments in middle class families."

Jobs

Big, Bold And Balanced vs. Tiny, Tepid, Tilted -- Dems, GOP Do Battle Over Deficits, Jobs

Brian Beutler | October 13, 2011, 3:21PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Listening to Congressional leaders these days, it's easy to forget that over a year ago Republicans put the budget at the top of the legislative agenda, and swamped Democrats at the polls with a simple question: "Where are the jobs?!"

For better or worse those issues are now inextricably linked. By consensus, job creation measures will have to be paid for, and doing anything substantial to help the economy now will require passing a larger and more equitable package of deficit-reducing policies than Republicans ever wanted.

Thus, the imperatives of the moment are issues Democrats want to tackle -- both for ideological reasons and out of political necessity. Their roles have flipped, in other words, with Democrats demanding swift action on the economy and deficits, and Republicans slinking into the background on both issues.

Read more »

Ben Bernanke

Congressional Dysfunction Begins To Spook Old Pros

Brian Beutler | October 10, 2011, 5:05AM

U.S. Capitol building

Congress has always been Washington's whipping boy, particularly near election time. The antics get sillier, the pace shifts from glacial to gridlock, and the frustrated public gets daily reminders that lawmakers are often too mired in politics to function in the national interest.

That's not news.

What is news is that this time it's starting to scare the pros.

Read more »

Barack Obama

White House Backs Reid's 'Nuclear' Approach

Susan Crabtree | October 7, 2011, 1:43PM

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

The White House tepidly endorsed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (R-NV) decision to go a bit nuclear Thursday night and change a Senate rule in order to allow passage of the widely popular China currency manipulation bill... and prevent a potentially embarrassing vote on the President's jobs bill.

"Well, I don't know the particulars or the arcane details [of Senate parliamentary procedure]," Carney said. "But I can say, yes, we think it's generally a problem that the filibuster has become a tool that is applied so broadly to measures that normally require just a majority vote."

Read more »

Jay Carney

White House: Cantor's 'Mob' Criticism Of Occupy Wall Street Is 'Hypocrisy Unbound'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 7, 2011, 1:23PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is speaking out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to the thousands of Americans taking to the streets for the Occupy Wall Street movement, the White House said Friday.

Read more »

Values Voter Summit

Eric Cantor: 'Increasingly Concerned' About Occupy Wall Street 'Mobs'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 7, 2011, 9:57AM

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor took to the stage at the 2011 Voter Values Summit in Washington to do a little fear-mongering about the growing Occupy Wall Street protests.

Read more »

American Jobs Act

Obama To Cantor: Dismantle My Jobs Bill At Your Own Risk

Susan Crabtree | October 3, 2011, 4:59PM

President Barack Obama

The White House Monday continued its war of words with House Republicans over their unwillingness to move his entire jobs package, confidently vowing to let voters decide how to react to Republicans' refusal to pass provisions such as infrastructure spending and retaining teachers.

"Congress can take it up, vote on it...then if there's a desire to take things out, we would accept that although we would not be satisfied by that... [President Obama] would say, 'Where's the rest of it? What about teachers and construction workers...or incentives to hire veterans?" White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters during a briefing Monday.

Read more »

Eric Cantor

Cantor To Obama: Let's Chop Up Your Jobs Act

Brian Beutler | October 3, 2011, 1:49PM

Hours after President Obama insisted both the House and Senate vote on his entire jobs bill, a top Republican says that's not gonna happen.

Asked by a reporter for a yes or no answer, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says the jobs bill, taken as a whole, is kaput.

"The $447 billion jobs package as a package: dead?" the reporter asked.

"Yes," Cantor replied.

Read more »

Super Committee

Super Committee Dems Avoid Trap That Skewed Debt Limit Fight

Brian Beutler | September 28, 2011, 2:41PM

'Super Committee' members Sen. Patt Murray (D-WA) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), September 7, 2011.

Democrats on the new deficit Super Committee are determined to be better negotiators than their predecessors in earlier deficit discussions leading up to the debt limit fight.

According to aides with knowledge of the discussions, they're trying to keep the panel's early focus on revenues, to avoid falling into a familiar trap of agreeing to a bunch of spending cuts only to have Republicans freeze up when they try to change the conversation to taxes.

A bit of background is appropriate here.

Read more »

FEMA

Cantor Presses FEMA On Status Of Disaster Aid For His District

Brian Beutler | September 27, 2011, 3:47PM

Here's a story that's delighting Democrats.

"House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-7th, is pushing for information on the status of Gov. Bob McDonnell's request for federal disaster assistance for Louisa County residents in the wake of an earthquake there last month," reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

On Friday, Cantor held a conference call with Federal Emergency Management Agency and Louisa County officials. A readout of the call provided by Cantor's office indicates that he asked FEMA officials about the timeline and process for determining whether the agency would grant federal assistance. 'FEMA said they have received the Governor's request and sent it to the White House for a decision but could not provide any specific information on timing," the readout said. "Even when asked for an estimate based on past applications they were unable to do so.'

Clearly it's a bit rich that Cantor is trying to make sure disaster relief funds get to his district as quickly as possible given that he was perhaps the key actor in the Capitol Hill showdown which threatened to halt all of FEMA's activities.

There's another implication here, though, that Cantor may ultimately be responsible for the delay. If he'd just said nothing -- never insisted for emergency supplemental funds for disaster relief be offset -- then disaster aid wouldn't have gotten mired in a budget fight, and the funds might have been easier to come by.

In multiple discussions, no executive branch officials would confirm that these issues were related, suggesting that if there's a funding delay in Cantor's district it isn't the result of the recent skirmish on Capitol Hill.

Read more »

Government Shutdown

Reid: Obama Will Call House Back From Recess If Necessary Over Shutdown Fight

Brian Beutler | September 23, 2011, 2:55PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) with Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Harry Reid has an offer for John Boehner and Senate Republicans to keep FEMA's disaster relief efforts funded and avoid a government shutdown. It goes like this: Democrats will accept the House GOP's lower funding total disaster aid, if Republicans drop the extraordinary demand that funding recovery from natural disasters be offset with partisan budget cuts.

Republicans now say the only way to keep the entire government funded after September 30 is if Democrats agree to slash a successful manufacturing program to pay for disaster aid included in the House's federal funding bill.

Speaking for his caucus at a Friday press conference, Reid categorically rejected the idea disaster aid should be offset. After the Senate rejected that proposal on a bipartisan basis, Reid urged Boehner to sit down with himself, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to review his offer, in the hope of avoiding a government shutdown. And he said if House Republicans continue intransigently to demand that the Senate swallow their bill, President Obama will call the House back into session from its week-long recess.

Read more »

Government Shutdown

Cram It! Senate Dems And Republicans Reject Holding Disaster Aid Hostage

Brian Beutler | September 23, 2011, 12:50PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

By a bipartisan vote of 59-36 Friday, Senate Democrats and several Republicans tabled (read: effectively killed) House-passed legislation to fund the federal government beyond September 30. The development escalates a new round of brinkmanship with disaster aid for FEMA and a government shutdown at stake.

Democrats are enraged by a provision of the GOP legislation, which holds disaster aid hostage to partisan budget cuts.

They're also unhappy with the amount of disaster relief money House Republicans included in their bill. Last week, the Senate passed legislation on a bipartisan basis that provided FEMA about twice as much disaster aid as the House bill, without requiring any offsets.

Read more »

Government Shutdown

Cave Or Escalate? Harry Reid Faces Tough Choice In Government Shutdown Fight

Brian Beutler | September 23, 2011, 10:14AM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will have to choose quickly between caving to House Republicans and fighting back. At stake are relief funds for victims of natural disasters across the country and potentially a government shutdown.

In the wee hours of Friday morning, House Republicans passed divisive legislation that would avoid a government shutdown at the end of September. But it includes a provision that erects a new, controversial standard: emergency disaster relief funds must be offset by cutting federal programs the House minority likes.

Democrats are prepared to cut a deal on the amount of disaster aid Congress should provide FEMA. But they're dead set against the concept of offsetting, and the particular offset the GOP chose: a hybrid vehicle manufacturing incentive that's proven to create jobs.

Read more »

Ben Bernanke

GOP Leaders To Bernanke: Don't Try And Improve The Economy Again

Brian Beutler | September 21, 2011, 8:59AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

House and Senate GOP leadership are taking fire from all sides for publicly pressuring Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke not to further loosen monetary policy, even if he thinks it will help the economy.

In a Tuesday letter to Bernanke, leaked to the press, Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), ostentatiously cautioned Bernanke against providing the economy any further monetary stimulus.

"[W]e submit that the board should resist further extraordinary intervention in the U.S. economy, particularly without a clear articulation of the goals of such a policy, direction for success, ample data proving a case for economic action and quantifiable benefits to the American people," the Republicans write.

Read more »

Government Shutdown

Top Republicans: Government Shutdown Over Disaster Aid Will Fall On Reid's Shoulders

Brian Beutler | September 20, 2011, 1:13PM

From left: Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI), Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)

The more Republicans and Democrats insist they're not interested in another government shutdown fight, the more they show themselves to be fighting their impulses.

Now, two of the top Republicans in the House say the Senate has little choice but to pass their federal funding bill -- including its controversial disaster relief provision -- or risk a shutdown, and a lapse in government services for people in need of help from FEMA.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said he'll send legislation to avoid a shutdown back to the House, with additional disaster relief money, and no controversial spending cuts, and dare Republicans to vote it down. They may very well do that that.

Read more »

John Boehner

Shutdown Chances Increase Over Disaster Relief, Program Cut Disputes

Brian Beutler | September 15, 2011, 5:43PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Two separate but related Republican efforts are increasing the odds that the government will shut down at the end of September, despite repeated assurances from both GOP and Democratic leaders that neither party has an appetite for another round of brinksmanship.

In a Thursday letter, over 50 House Republicans, led by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), pushed Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to make steep cuts to discretionary spending in the next fiscal year, reneging on the agreement the parties struck to resolve the debt limit standoff. That legislation set a cap on discretionary spending at $1.043 trillion and both Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) are committed to funding the government at that level for the coming year.

But many House conservatives want to go lower, and if they defect then House Democrats will have to pitch in to make sure it passes and avert a shut down.

There's just one problem.

Read more »

Barack Obama

Touchy, Touchy: White House Still Pushing Full Jobs Package Despite Brief Confusion

Susan Crabtree | September 14, 2011, 5:58AM

President Obama

The White House is getting a tad bit sensitive about whether it would accept anything less than Congressional passage of the President's full job package.

It may be just for rhetorical strategy because there's no way Congress would accept the entire jobs bill lock, stock and barrel. Majority Leader Eric Cantor has already said he would jettison nearly all of the spending provisions. Still, Tuesday afternoon the White House took the unusual step of officially clarifying previous remarks its own spokesman made during a briefing.

Read more »

Government Shutdown

How Congress Could End Up In A Government Shutdown Fight After All

Brian Beutler | September 13, 2011, 9:17AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

Could there be a government shutdown fight in the coming weeks despite the fact that Republicans have agreed with Democrats on a funding figure for the coming fiscal year, and GOP leaders say they've lost the appetite for another round of brinksmanship?

Yes.

Read more »

Jobs

Cantor To Obama: Let's Nix More Than Half Your Jobs Bill

Brian Beutler | September 12, 2011, 1:59PM

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA)

This post was updated at 4:26 p.m.

How much of President Obama's jobs bill is DOA in the House? According to Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), probably about half of it.

"Anything that is akin to the stimulus bill I think is not going to be acceptable to the American people," Cantor told reporters at his weekly Capitol briefing Monday. "I don't believe that our members are going to be interested in pursuing that. I certainly am not."

Cantor's talking about federal spending here. He has come out in favor of an alternative plan to expedite high-impact infrastructure building, by ending requirements the federal government places on surface transportation funds, and allowing states to reprioritize the money. But this plan would involve no new federal spending, and there remain significant differences between GOP leadership and the White House over how to fund new projects.

Separately, the stimulus bill wasn't nearly all spending. About a third of its cost came from the very sort of tax cuts and credits that Obama's new jobs bill contains, and Republicans are more likely to support. Another big chunk of the $787 billion price tag came from an un-stimulative patch that Congress passes every year to prevent the Alternative Minimum Tax from ensnaring middle class taxpayers.

Read more »

Eric Cantor

Cantor Admits Shutdown Fights Harm Economy

Brian Beutler | September 12, 2011, 1:56PM

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) with GOP leaders

Here's a rare admission from a top Republican, given how things have unfolded on Capitol Hill all year. It comes from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), in response to a question about whether Republicans will push for deeper spending cuts later this month when Congress has to extend funding for federal programs.

"I think the risk of bringing back brinkmanship or another potential shutdown is not something right now that we need, is not something that would be helpful to create jobs and regain confidence, which is why I've taken the position that I have," Cantor said.

Here's a brief primer on his position. It's worth noting that the country's economic situation was similarly poor in April and July when Republicans forced long fights over, respectively, a six month government funding bill and raising the debt limit.

Hurricane Irene

Obama Asks Congress For $500M In Disaster Relief, Cantor Does Not Object

Susan Crabtree | September 10, 2011, 9:48AM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

The White House late Friday afternoon sent its request to Congress for $500 million in immediate relief to help the victims of Hurricane Irene and other recent disasters and avoid running out of response funds before the end of the month.

The request was just a small portion of the total $5.1 billion the President asked for in order to fill the coffers of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has become so strained for funds that it has put longer-term building projects on hold in order to ensure enough money remains for victims of Irene.

Read more »

John Boehner

House GOP To Obama: Thanks For Ideas On Jobs, We'll Pick It Apart And Get Back To You

Susan Crabtree | September 9, 2011, 4:28PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

House Republicans leaders officially put President Obama on notice -- in the kindest language possible -- that they don't intend to accept his marching orders on the jobs bill and take up the entire package all at once.

Instead, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and the rest of the the GOP leadership team, said they'd be much more amendable to the plan if it was offered to them in smaller, separate bites -- no doubt so they can push the tax cut provisions for small businesses and jettison the plan's costliest spending proposals like school renovation and extending unemployment insurance.

Read more »

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders Not A Fan Of Offsetting Hurricane Disaster Relief With Budget Cuts

Ryan J. Reilly | September 9, 2011, 6:30AM

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose home state of Vermont suffered severe floods from the remnants of Hurricane Irene, isn't big on Republican Rep. Eric Cantor's plan to offset federal disaster relief with cuts from the budget.

"I think that is totally absurd, and I find it ironic that the same people who are making that type of proposal are the type of people who voted to bailout Wall Street, no offset," Sanders told TPM on Thursday.

Read more »

Jobs

Cantor Nixes President Obama's Infrastructure Bank Idea

Brian Beutler | September 8, 2011, 2:16PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is striking a gentler tone ahead of President Obama's Thursday jobs speech, and highlighting the areas he says Republicans can work with the administration to grow the economy -- unemployment insurance, payroll taxes, and infrastructure. But the devil is in the details, and there are still significant differences between the parties' approaches.

"I'm wary of the suggestion of an infrastructure bank," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) told reporters at a roundtable lunch hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "I am one who agrees with the notion that an infrastructure bank is almost like creating a Fanny and Freddie for roads and bridges."

Read more »

Jobs

Cantor Demurs On Whether Super Committee Should Focus On Jobs

Brian Beutler | September 7, 2011, 3:32PM

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA)

President Obama wants Congress to pass his jobs plan, and Democrats think the new deficit Super Committee is the appropriate venue for those initiatives. If creating jobs costs money in the near term, the Committee could simply offset those cuts with additional long-term deficit savings, beyond the $1.2 trillion floor required by the debt ceiling law.

But Republicans aren't sold. I asked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) whether this would be an appropriate course of action for the Joint Committee -- new jobs spending now, more deficit cuts later. He demurred.

Read more »

Harry Reid

Reid Seeks To Call GOP Bluff By Pushing Clean Emergency Disaster Relief Bill

Brian Beutler | September 7, 2011, 3:22PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

Sensing an advantage after some Republicans claimed disaster relief funding should be offset with cuts to other programs, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will hold a vote on a clean, stand-alone, $6 billion disaster relief bill.

"We need to get this relief funding to the American people as quickly as we can, and we're going to do that -- I'm going to bring a free-standing bill, and we're going to have a chance to vote on it," Reid told reporters at his weekly Capitol briefing Wednesday. "Some of my Republican colleagues are trying to -- I was going to say something that was vulgar and I'm not going to do that -- are trying to cater to the Tea Party by holding up relief efforts."

Read more »

Economy

Is The GOP Backing Off The Claim That Cutting Spending Creates Economic Growth?

Brian Beutler | September 7, 2011, 1:55PM

GOP Leaders

House Republicans have been successful at forcing significant cuts to the federal budget over the last nine months, but it hasn't translated into the economic expansion they promised. "Cut and grow" they called it, but so far there's been a lot of "cut" and not much "grow."

Here's House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), echoing the vast majority of Republicans, in February: "[W]e must cut government spending to bring down the deficit and the debt because if you look at the current levels of debt, added what's required to fund future deficits, you're going to have a crowding out of private capital. If you do, businesses will not grow, and you will overall retard that economic growth. You will bring on inflation, erode the value of the dollar and create an economic environment where you are going to reduce consumer spending power and ultimately the standard of living in America."

Read more »

Polls

Rasmussen Poll: Offsetting Disaster Aid With Cuts Not Such A Bad Idea

Kyle Leighton | September 7, 2011, 10:20AM

Hey, if a hurricane hits another part of the country, that's not your problem, right? Apparently, that view is more widely held than one might think.

In the days before Hurricane Irene ravaged the east coast, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) floated the idea that disaster aid from the federal government should be offset with spending cuts in a similar way to the GOP demands on the debt ceiling deal. The idea, though pretty consistent orthodoxy from Cantor, was loudly criticized, but Cantor doubled down. And a new poll out on Wednesday from Rasmussen shows a surprising amount of support for that very position.

Read more »

Environment

Obama Smog Decision Will Leave In Place 'Legally Indefensible' Environmental Standard

Brian Beutler | September 2, 2011, 12:42PM

Image From Pichugin Dmitry / Shutterstock

President Obama pulled the plug Friday on a long-delayed environmental regulation that would have further limited industrial smog emissions, leaving in place an ozone standard that EPA administrator Lisa Jackson recently described as "legally indefensible." The development most likely means smog standards in many states will remain lower than they would have been if President George W. Bush's lax policy had been fully pursued.

The proposed limits have been under assault by congressional Republicans and the business community for months. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) recently called it "possibly the most harmful of all the currently anticipated Obama Administration regulations."

Obama's decision comes the same day new employment figures show the economy created zero net jobs in August.

What was the regulation, and what does it mean now that it's been scotched? In short, it means Bush-era smog standards, declared inadequate by government science advisers, will likely remain in effect until mid-decade if not longer.

Read more »

Eric Cantor

MoveOn: Eric Cantor Is Holding Disaster Victims 'Hostage' For Spending Cuts (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 2, 2011, 9:41AM

As Democrats prepare to use House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's words about disaster relief funding against the whole GOP, the progressives at MoveOn.org are helping to get the ball rolling with a new national television ad calling Cantor's call for spending cuts to pay for disaster aid "appalling."

"Republicans like Eric Cantor are threatening to hold victims of Hurricane Irene hostage by demanding budget cuts in exchange for aid," the ad's narrator says. "Abandoning families who have lost everything just to serve the GOP's extreme agenda? It's heartless, appalling and it's not how we do things in America."

Read more »