Republicans Concerned About Proposed Consumer Finance Protection Agency

By Ravi Bhatia-Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and other Republican Congressmen delivered statements today at the U.S. Capitol opposing the proposed Consumer Finance Protection Agency.

The bill that would lead to its establishment, pushed by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), would create an agency to oversee nearly all facets of consumer lending. The Committee will vote on the bill by the end of the week.

“Increased government regulation isn’t always the answer,” Cantor said. “We need, perhaps, smart regulation, but more [isn’t always] the right solution.”

Supporters of the bill say that the agency will pull together consumer oversight powers scattered among various agencies, making consumer interests a higher priority.

“The new Consumer Financial Protection Agency that I've asked Congress to create will have just one mission:  to look out for the financial interests of ordinary Americans,” said President Barack Obama in a statement released Oct. 9. “It will be charged with setting clear rules of the road for consumers and banks, and it will be able to enforce those rules across the board.”

However, the Republicans at today's briefing are concerned that the agency will concentrate too much power into one organization, or possibly even one person.

“What has been proposed by the Democrats is a new consumer finance rationing and design authority,” said Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee. “It gives one person - a credit rationing czar - the right to make all types of decisions. Of all the losers, the greatest loser, if this legislation passes, is going to be small business, because small business [is already] having trouble getting financing.”

UPDATE: By a tally of 32-29, the House Financial Services Committee voted to approve the Consumer Financial Protection Agency on Thursday.

Republican Leadership Protests New Missile Defense Strategy

By Ravi Bhatia-Talk Radio News Service

A number of high ranking Congressional Republicans Thursday protested President Barack Obama’s recent decision to scrap an Eastern European based missile defense system.

Ranking Member of the House Committee on Armed Services Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Strategic Forces Michael Turner and House Chairman Michael Pence (R-Ind.) all delivered statements.

“We’re seeing this administration’s real national security policy emerge,” McKeon said. “The administration is capitulating to Russia’s demands, rewarding Russia for its divisive policies and actions.”

The plan eliminates former President George W. Bush’s planned missile defense system, which would have deployed either a radar system in the Czech Republic or 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland in order to deter long range and short range missiles. Instead, the Obama administration will use a system aimed more toward intercepting shorter-range missiles from Iran, which Defense Secretary Robert Gates believes pose a more immediate threat.

“The sudden turnaround, the sudden release of new intelligence information - that has not come the way of the Hill - is puzzling, to say the least,” Cantor said. “We await the answers associated with that turnaround from our administration.”

Cantor also said that he hoped Vice President Joe Biden was “misquoted” when he said he was much less concerned about Iran because Iran does not have the potential capacity to launch a missile at the United States.

“To me, implicit in [Biden’s] statement is that we should not naturally concern ourselves with the threat to our allies in Europe, to our allies in the Middle East such as Israel,” Cantor said.

Acording to Michael Turner, the Obama administration has cut missile defense funding by $1.2 billion. He also said that the plan will not provide the United States with long range missile defense until 2020, while the former plan would have considered long range missile defense as early as 2013.

“They’re retreating from the deployment of a missile defense shield in Europe,” he said.

“The Obama administration is continuing a policy of appeasement at the expense of our allies,” Pence said. “History teaches that weakness and appeasement invite aggression against peaceful nations.”

Iran Presents An Immediate Danger, Warns Diplomat

John DuBois- New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Dore Gold, a former Isreali Diplomat, joined with Republican House members Wednesday to discuss the threat posed by a nuclear armed Iran.

"We are in a dangerous position with Iran," said Gold. "The time is five minutes before midnight and we cannot drag this out," Gold added, a reference to the symbolic doomsday clock that tracks the possibility of nuclear weapons use.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) stated that he feels concerned and "fears a policy of engagement with Iran will lead down a dangerous path."

The speakers stated that the International Atomic Agency reports a steady growth in low enriched uraninium stocks linked with Iran and that the Islamic Republic is steadily working on the production of warheads.

"The time is now for Congress to in act the strongest sanctions against the regime in Iran," Rep Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said, referring to the proposed Iran Petroleum Sanctions Act. Pence called upon Democrats to support the legislation.

Minority Whips Express Disapproval Over President's Address

By Meagan Wiseley, University Of New Mexico - Talk Radio News Service.

In a press conference on Thursday, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and House Minority Whip. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) expressed overall disappointment with President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday night.

“Bottom line...I thought the speech was partisan, uninformative, disingenuous and not likely to encourage those who have honest disagreements with him to be able to work towards some kind of common solution," said Kyl.

Said Cantor, “There [is] no question that the bar was set very high for this president and his speech last night. His performance did not match those expectations and in fact I don’t think that he did reach that bar.”

Both Kyl and Cantor argued that the nation's health care system can be reformed with small specific bills, as opposed to one comprehensive bill. “Start with what works, guarantee those aspects can be preserved, then we can work to fix the problems,” said Cantor.

New GOP-Led “Health Solutions Group” Seeks Smart Reform

By Joseph Russell - Talk Radio News Service

Republican leaders in the House called for “smart reform” at a press conference Thursday. The new Health Solutions Group, comprised of House Republicans from committees dealing with health care reform, said that as more Americans raise objections to a government take-over of health care, President Obama becomes less specific.

“The president really presented the American people with a false choice,” House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said. “There are only two ways, either the status quo or a government health care plan. We’re here to say that there really is a third way.”

The Health Solutions Group heard testimony from Canadian citizens and British doctors like Shona Holmes who claimed her life was saved by leaving Canada and coming to the U.S. for treatment. Holmes said that 5 million people in Canada go without a family doctor, a percentage that would equal “the same population as in the State of California.”

House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) was more focused on the impact Obamacare, if passed, will have on small businesses. “Either you offer health insurance to your employees or you pay an eight percent payroll tax,” Boehner said. “What this is going to do is raise the cost of employment, which is going to mean less employees in America. . . according to their bill, they're going to lose about five million jobs.”

House GOP leaders said that growing bipartisan disapproval for a government run health care bill is going to make it difficult for House Democrats to continue to ignore Republicans, who argue that they have been left out of the process. Though unlikely, the Democratic health care proposal, over 1,100 pages long, may still be voted on before the Congressional recess in August.