Cantor: American Jobs Act Is DOA

By Andrea Salazar

President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill, as a package, is dead. 

That according to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who said Monday at his weekly briefing that the president’s “all or nothing approach is just unacceptable.”

Elements of that jobs bill are on the table, though. The House, over the next month, will pass bills to help small business owners, to make the 3 percent withholding provision permanent and to make free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, Cantor said.

“We’ve seen enough of the divide,” he said. “And that’s why I say that if nothing else, we should certainly focus on trying to put some wins on the board, stop magnifying the differences [and] try and focus on the commonalities.”

While emphasizing the need for Republicans and Democrats to work together, Cantor also pointed out that “we’ve got a terrible environment for entrepreneurs” and called for less government regulation on businesses. 

“Our country is being paralyzed by Washington over-regulation and a Washington-knows-best mentality coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,” the majority leader said.

The president, however, still expects Congress to pass his jobs bill.

“It’s been several weeks now since I sent up the American Jobs Act and, as I’ve been saying on the road, I want it back. I’m ready to sign it,” Obama said on Monday morning.