Cantor: Stimulus Spending Unacceptable

By Adrianna McGinley

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), said no to more stimulus spending at his weekly news briefing Monday.

Contributing to the overall sentiment of ‘no more of the same’ emanating from both sides of the aisle, Cantor said no form of stimulus spending will be accepted.

“Anything that is akin to the stimulus bill I think is not going to be acceptable to the American people. Most folks understand that the promises made around the stimulus program were not kept.”

Cantor pointed out several points on which he does agree with the president, including the need to focus  on small businesses when presenting jobs legislation.

“The fact is, we don’t have the money, and we got to prioritize and right now is about getting people back to work. Right now we want to focus on small businesses and the private sector because focusing on the stimulus and the public sector has not gotten us anywhere.”

Cantor also expressed worry over the “pay fors” that will not be included in the bill that the president is expected to present this week.

“I sure hope that the president is not suggesting that we pay for his proposals with a massive tax increase at the end of 2012 on job creators that we’re actually counting on to reduce unemployment.”

On the doubt regarding whether or not Congress will be willing to work across party lines to pass jobs legislation, Cantor said, “I think all of us are here to try and do right by the people that elect us and what’s right for this country.” He added, “when there is potential for areas of agreement, we’re going to work towards accomplishing that.”

He criticized President Obama, however, for taking an “all or nothing” approach.

“I do not think that the president’s all or nothing approach is something that is constructive. We have good ideas, he’s got some ideas that we think are good, we can bring these together, but let’s not allow the things in his bill that we disagree with to get in the way of producing some results.”

Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC), also present at the briefing, said, “those of us who come from strong defense districts still believe that if we’re going to have the opportunity to engage the president, we have to do so with everything on that table to improve our spending,” when the two were presented with questions regarding possible cuts to national defense.

Boehner On Senate's Budget Plan: Pass The Damn Thing

Reports saying Senate Democrats had reached a compromise with Republicans regarding how much to cut from the remainder of FY2011’s budget have left House leadership frustrated. 

“Now the Senate says, ‘We have a plan.’ Well great, pass the damn thing and send it over here and let’s have a real negotiation,” House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday. 

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor added to Boehner’s frustration and said the House would be considering The Prevention Of A Government Shutdown Act, a piece of legislation that would prevent Congress and the President from being paid during a prospective shutdown.

A provision in this piece of legislation would assign H.R. 1, the House’s original budget proposal, as “the law of the land” should the Senate fail to act before the continuing resolution expires on April 8. 

“We are serious, we want to take care of this problem so we can get on about the business of the nation and get Americans back to work,” Cantor said. 

Bipartisan Panel Outlines Five Steps To Reform Earmarks

By Kyle LaFleur— Talk Radio News Service

Former Congressman James Walsh (R-NY) joined a bipartisan coalition of lobbyists and NGO members in Washington Wednesday morning to discuss the “Next Steps for Earmark Reform.” Though the seven panel members held a variety of opinions regarding the future of earmarks, they did agree on five reform principles Congress should consider.

“I have worked with lots of individuals and organizations over the years, this is probably one of the most unique groups I have worked with and it’s really been enjoyable and its great to see Americans of all stripes, views and philosophies coming together to help resolve some of the issues we have before us,” said Walsh.

The five principles would limit earmark beneficiary campaign contributions to $5,000, bar legislative staff from participating in fundraising events, create a new data base of all congressional earmarks, call for the random auditing of earmarks and require that members certify that earmark recipients are qualified to handle the projects they receive money for.  

“The lists is probably more inclusive than some would like and less inclusive then others would like but it’s the sort of compromise all of us would like to see and we think the American people would like to see Congress work out,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.  

The coalition’s anncounment comes exactly one week after House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginai called for an end to all earmarks.  

In a Politico op-ed, Cantor said “there is no question that earmarks – rightly or wrongly – have become the poster child for Washington’s wasteful spending binges. They have been linked to corruption and scandal, and serve as a fuel line for the culture of spending that has dominated Washington far too long. These reasons alone would justify completely eliminating earmarks, but the basis for my position doesn’t end there. The old adage that he who can’t be trusted to reform the “small” problems can’t be trusted to reform the “large” ones applies as much to government as to individuals. Both Republicans and Democrats have an enormous task before us if we are going to get America’s fiscal house in order.”

House Minority Whip: U.S. Can’t Spend Our Way Out Of Recession

Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) told reporters at a press conference Tuesday that President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats cannot stimulate the economy through spending alone.

“[I] absolutely disagree that we can spend our way out of recession...You can’t spend money that we don’t have and keep doing it,” said Cantor. “We can do something to reinvigorate the confidence of investors.”

The press conference was in direct response to Obama’s remarks earlier today at the Brookings Institute. Obama proposed new growth solutions with tax cuts and incentives for small businesses and continued investment in American infrastructure.

"Ensuring that economic growth and job creation are strong and sustained is critical to ensuring that we are increasing revenues and decreasing spending on things like unemployment so that our deficits will start coming down," Obama said.

Cantor refereed to his “No-costs jobs plan,” that he introduced last week during a discussion at the Heritage Foundation. Cantor’s plan proposes the Obama administration rescind self-imposed obstacles to economic growth and wealth creation by eliminating small business rules and regulations that have been detrimental for growth.

“We’ve got a lot of uncertainty out there right now that is inhibiting investors from getting back into the game. Obviously the White House is listening to the American people. Although the speeches are nice and the rhetoric about wanting to get Americans back to work are nice, the real question is ... 'what are they going to do,'” said Cantor.