CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Aug. 18, 2009 – 12:01 a.m.
Cantor Puts Democrats on Notice for Fall
By Alan K. Ota, CQ Staff
Midlothian, Va. — House Republicans will spend the fall portraying the economic stimulus law as a waste of taxpayer money while depicting Democratic attempts to retool the health system as potentially ruinous to small businesses, says Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia.
Cantor told reporters the GOP would continue to offer alternatives on health care and the economic recovery.
“If we’re going to oppose what [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and the administration are doing, we’re going to proffer coherent counterproposals that we believe make more sense,” Cantor said.
The second-ranking House Republican spoke to the media Monday during a half-day job fair that he sponsored at Clover Hill High School, in the suburbs west of Richmond. More than 3,000 job-seekers jammed the road in front of the school and parked cars on nearby lawns to meet with some 80 employers inside.
Cantor, who has emerged as one of the Obama administration’s sharpest critics, said that the throng of jobless residents was a measure of the faltering effects of the stimulus law (PL 111-5) that Republicans contend was too focused on infrastructure spending that will increase the federal debt.
Cantor called for redirecting stimulus money toward small businesses, saying they are capable of creating jobs quickly.
“If we’re not going to direct them [funds] in the direction of job creators, we ought not be spending taxpayer dollars,” Cantor said. Referring to the job-seekers, he said, “These people, they have real dire circumstances.”
On health care, the GOP continues to strongly oppose liberal Democrats’ push for a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers, and argues that House Democratic leaders’ call for a surtax on individuals with adjusted gross incomes of more than $250,000 would hurt small-business owners.
Cantor predicted the administration’s overhaul would be “paid for on the backs of small businesses, the ones we need most to answer the plight of the people here today.”
As an alternative, House Republicans are promoting less ambitious measures, such as expanded medical savings accounts and a proposal to permit small businesses to join across state lines to buy group health coverage from private insurers.
Cantor said that Republicans have not yet decided whether to offer a detailed substitute amendment as an alternative to the House Democratic health plan (
“The majority has been adept at blocking our ability to offer alternatives that we’ll have to see what they’ll allow. But clearly the American people want to see an alternative that works,” Cantor said.
In general, he said, Democrats were too enamored with “attempts by Washington to fix every problem under the sun” instead of focusing on stimulating the economy and creating jobs. He suggested applying more stimulus money to tax breaks.
“We ought to seriously sit down, roll up our sleeves and begin to prioritize how we go about deploying those resources,” he said.
Democrats have brushed aside criticism of the stimulus by Cantor and other Republican leaders and rejected the idea or redirecting some of the funds contained in the $787 billion package.
Comments
They did such a wonderful job of reforming health care when they had the opportunity that we should listen to them now??
Yes, I was at the job fair. There were 60 booths, but some were for profit colleges, the VA was there, not for jobs but to help veterans. For the companies and departments that were there very few were taking resumes and even fewer, maybe 2 or three actually had more than 1 job. Comcast was looking for 1 job, ONE JOB! So I waited in the sun for and hour plus, and I got nothing out of it, except the water bottle that the congressman's staffer handed out. If this is his idea of helping, I am just going to stay home. -Bill, Mechanicsville VA
Democrats are doing such a wonderful job of reforming health care now that why should we listen to them anymore??
"We will continue to offer alternatives on healthcare and economic recovery" say's rep. Eric Cantor..... What an idiot! Who believes that the republicans have offered any plan on anything? There hasn't been any ideas coming out of the GOP in so many decades that one must wonder what these fools do with their time. Oh wait, I know. They come up with ideas to make President Obama fail..... What a great plan.
NotADemocrat What nerve this guy has. This administration inherited the mess left by the Republicans. And does he not recall that their own Dick Cheney assured the public that debt didn't matter? These people do not care a flip about the jobless and those without insurance and those who are losing their homes. All they care about is getting back into power, and no lie is too slimy to use.
2006 - Dems gain control of Congress unemployment 4.5%. 2009 9.4%. Why do Dems hate small business and insist on driving them to close up shop?
The Republicans have offered a plan and they did in the last 30 years as well. They didn't get through, just like Clinton's didn't. Health insurance across state lines does seem to be a plus, it should include individual as well as small business though. Every Administration and Congress inherits a mess, Clinton's budget also increased debt, it was not a 'balanced budget'. More of it was from social security and other funds. As payouts increase for social security, they amount available for that will go lower and lower.
I don't know how many of you have had healthcare savings accounts. It was something the McCain camp went with in his election bid and something the Repubs like to include in any "reform" they propose today. I had a health savings account in the 90's. This is not necessarily a new thing. I hated. it. You have money taken from your paycheck weekly and can spend it during the year on healthcare. Only problem is, if you you don't spend every penny by the end of the year, you lose it. The money goes back to the company. I found it cumbersome in December to make sure I spent every cent on something related to healthcare if I had not been sick that year. I certainly did not want my money to go back to the company. This was when I was making a large salary. Taking money out of a lower salary person has almost no value in that they are paying for anything they are getting. It is not "insurance". This is a nonsense idea that should not be included in any real healthcare reform.
@David Daniloff - You are describing a Medical Savings Account (MSA) NOT a Health Savings Account (HSA) which is what McCain was advocating for. The main differerence is that with an HSA the money stays in your account if you don't spend it and can be rolled into your IRA if you want. Think about regular insurance, you pay monthly premiums whether you use heathcare or not so the incentive is to use healthcare for every little thing. This isn't health insurance it's prepaid health care. An HSA, coupled with high deductible catostrophic insurance isn't for everybody but I bet it would be the best option for 80% to 90% of people under the age of 65.
David (Poster) is confusing Health Savings Accounts with Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA's). FSA's must be used up every year or unused balance reverts to the Employer. A Health Savings Account is different - it requires a high-deductible health plan and you get to keep unused balance that isn't withdrawn to pay the deductible. It's Qualified Money, like in an IRA. Regardless - how can anybody with a brain trust Obama? The Dems want to ram this through and don't care what the public wants, or how negatively this will impact individuals, small businesses, and the economy.
@David Daniloff What you're describing is a Medical Savings Account (MSA) not a Health Savings Account (HSA). The biggest difference between the two is that a HSA allows you to keep the money you don't spend and eventually roll it over into your IRA. With traditional Insurance (PPO) people pay huge monthly premiums for healthcare just in case they get sick. Since they've paid for their healthcare already they go to the doctor for any little thing - why not it's been paid for. There is no incentive to not go and this fuels the upward healthcare costs. This isn't health insurance, it's prepaid health care. An HSA coupled with a high deductible Catastrophic insurance plan is probably the best program for 80% to 90% of working Americans under the age of 65.
What nerve! If Obama, with the full backing of almost every economist out there, hadn't acted decisively, unemployment would be 30% and we would be n the largest world-wide depression since the 1930's. AND it would have been because of the extreme right-wing anti-government ideology that prevented oversight of the securitization of the mortgage industry. Obama was handed a collapsing bubble economy by Bush and the Republican Party. It's a marvel we're in as good a shape as we're in.
In 30 years the Republicans have done so much for the little guy, why would anyone listen to them...They need us to check our brains at the door, like must Republicans, and turn on Fox News...While they line there pockets with tax payer dollars and laugh at us all the way to the bank... P.S. there is no money for small businesses because the cubbard is bear thank to the last 8yrs. How soon you forget!!!!
If the Obama Administration had listened to the Republicans, we would be in a worldwide Depression for decades. They wanted to let the banks fail. Seriously. Let the banks fail. If I live to be 100, I will never vote for another one. Not even if Ronald Reagan himself rose from the grave. As a matter of fact, ESPECIALLY if he did. His stupid comments against "government" has been ruinous to political discussion and debate. Bad governement is bad, but good government is very beneficial. As someone who has lived in Europe for several years, let me tell you, if you think that is "socialism" and "evil," you have really been hoodwinked. If I could go back, I would!
"If we're not going to direct them [funds] in the direction of job creators, we ought not be spending taxpayer dollars," Cantor would be more convincing if he had plans to give anyone other than GOP politicians jobs.
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