President Obama has said that unless he gets a second tax hike in eight weeks, he will be forced to let criminals loose on the streets, the meat at your grocery store won’t be inspected and emergency responders will be unable to do their jobs. These are false choices. We are faced with the negative effects of the sequester because Democrats have not been able to take even the smallest step towards controlling spending.Rep. Eric Cantor • Painting President Obama as the primary cause of the looming sequester, and resulting budget cuts, which will take effect if Congress doesn’t act by next week. While neither party is particularly popular at the moment, a recent Pew/USA Today poll shows that the GOP is currently eating much of the public blame for the sequester debate, which we don’t imagine sits well with the House Majority. source
Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor told reporters after a two-hour closed-door meeting Tuesday with his GOP lawmakers that he did not support the bill.
He said House leaders were looking for “the best path forward” and that no decisions had been made.
The Senate passed the measure early Tuesday by a sweeping 89-8 vote. House passage of the measure would send it to President Barack Obama for his signature. The bill would increase taxes on family income exceeding $450,000 and delay across-the-board spending cuts for two months.
Side note: The Congressional Budget Office looked over the bill and found it added $4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.
» According to the Virginia Republican, he didn’t realize he would be donating to the Campaign for Primary Accountability (CPA) when he made a deal with Illinois Republican Aaron Schock to aid fellow Illinois freshman Adam Kinzinger’s re-election bid. Kinzinger faces veteran Republican Don Manzullo, now that the two men find themselves representing the same district following recent congressional redistricting. The CPA is an anti-incumbent Super PAC which has targeted a number of Republicans who are up for re-election in November, leaving many inside the GOP wondering just what the House Majority Leader was up to.
“What I have seen is a very hard-fought primary. And we have seen now that the central issue about the campaign now is the economy,” Cantor said on “Meet the Press” this morning. “I just think there’s one candidate in the case who can do that, and it’s Mitt Romney.” With this statement, the House Majority Leader is now the highest-ranking member of Congress to endorse someone in the GOP primary race. (photo by Gage Skidmore)
I am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and other cities across our country.House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, talking about Occupy Wall Street. “Believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans,” he continued. “But you sent us here to fight for you and for all Americans. You sent us here to bring about real change in Washington, real change to your federal government. And we’re committed to do that.” Pitting of Americans against Americans? Isn’t that what you do, Eric? Let’s be honest with ourselves before we criticize others.
A top staffer to Eric Cantor is leaving the House majority leader’s office to launch a Super PAC aimed at raising Cantor’s national profile, sources told Influence Alley. The PAC will be run by Cantor’s deputy chief of staff John Murray and would give Cantor a vehicle he could use to run for vice president …Sources: Cantor Launching Super PAC To Position for VP - Influence Alley (via brooklynmutt)
As president of the United States I want to make it very clear that we are going to meet our federal obligations because we are one country. When one part of the country gets affected, whether it’s a tornado in Joplin, Missouri or a hurricane that affects that eastern seaboard, then we come together as one country and make sure that everybody gets the help that they need.President Barack Obama • Speaking about the need for federal disaster funding during a visit to Irene-ravaged New Jersey yesterday. This is an issue as a result of some stuff Eric Cantor said last week, suggesting that federal funding of disaster cleanup would only happen by cutting matching funding elsewhere. We like the point The Bergen Record’s Mike Kelly makes about this: “Memo to conservatives: You make good points about the need for America to get serious about government spending. But this is not a John Wayne western, with steel-eyed gunfighters making black-and-white decisions about life and death.” Conservatives are right on a surface level on this — we need to cut spending — but get down to the nitty-gritty and it’s simply not clear-cut. source (via • follow)
As you can see from this calendar right here, the votes planned for September 7, which John Boehner mentioned in his note earlier today, have been listed on this calendar for months. See? Eric Cantor had it in his calendar and everything! How dare Obama screw with their schedule at the last second?!
A notable edit to Eric Cantor’s Wikipedia page we just noticed. (See yellow highlight.)
Any projects that have not come in for approval, we’re not going to be able to fund those as this point. We’re going to postpone those. Our goal is to keep this disruption as short as possible, but it was prudent.FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate • Describing the reasons that FEMA is putting their long-term work to repair Joplin, Mo. on hold, and instead putting that money towards Hurricane Irene. Another issue arising in the Hurricane Irene situation? They might run into yet another wall of House Republican suck. That’s because House Majority Leader Eric Cantor makes no guarantees about funding Irene cleanup unless there are budget cuts to match, which is a real jerk move which shows how out-of-touch with reality that the GOP is. Now, granted, Ron Paul pitches ideas like these all the time. But when the GOP leadership continues to do so without regard to the current situation at hand, it makes you you want to vote all the bums out en masse next year. source (via • follow)
Deregulation = jobs: A memo obtained by ShortFormBlog contains details of an upcoming Republican effort to push massive deregulatory legislation through the House of Representatives, in hopes of unshackling “costly bureaucratic handcuffs” faced by businesses. The letter, sent today by Eric Cantor to the House Republican caucus, details the “Top 10 Job-Destroying Regulations,” and how Republicans plan to address them. “By pursuing a steady repeal of job-destroying regulations,” Cantor wrote, “we can help lift the cloud of uncertainty hanging over small and large employers alike, empowering them to hire more workers.” Some key proposals:
» In keeping with Republican orthodoxy, Cantor also proposes to two tax cuts (one for government contractors, another for small businesses), and the repeal of unspecified provisions of the Affordable Care Act. What do you all think of Cantor’s plan? Read the whole thing at the link. (AP Photo)