Eric Cantor Presents Plan For Congress, But Predicts Gridlock
BY ALEXIS LEVINSON
Officially launching his bid for House majority leader, Minority Whip Eric Cantor released a letter detailing a very hopeful plan for legislation and governmental reform, while simultaneously expressing a frustrated expectation that the reforms will not be able to pass through the partisan gridlock of the next Congress.
In the document, entitled “Delivering on Our Commitment,” and the preceding letter to fellow Republicans, Cantor proposed that the House should focus on creating jobs, reducing government spending, reforming the legislative process in the House, and putting a new focus on oversight.
Cantor also expressed confidence in the GOP’s ability to fulfill the things their candidates promised during midterm election campaigning.
“Let us be under no illusion,” he wrote in the letter prefacing the plan. “Many of those who cast their vote for Republicans have their share of doubts about whether we are up to the task of governing; about whether congressional Republicans have learned our lesson.”
“I harbor no such doubts,” Cantor concluded.
But he does harbor doubts that the Republican-controlled House will be able to get legislation past a Democrat-controlled Senate and President Obama.
On the subject of repealing health care, Cantor predicted, “even if our repeal bill makes it through the Senate, we can expect that President Obama will veto it.”
He was equally cynical about the possibility of bipartisan cooperation on entitlement reform.
“President Obama, congressional Democrats, and their liberal allies,” Cantor wrote, “have made it abundantly clear that they will attack anyone who puts forward a plan that even tries to begin a conversation about the tough choices that are needed.”
“Unfortunately, I do not believe that President Obama will work with us to enact real entitlement reform unless it includes major tax increases,” he added. “And I cannot go along with such a deal.”
Cantor’s plan proposes that the House focus on creating jobs, though even on this plank he predicts a fight with the administration’s “war on job creation.” He also wants to use rescission bills to repeal funds that were previously approved but unspent, push entitlement reform, repeal the health care bill, and a continue the moratorium on earmarks in order to decrease government spending and rein in the deficit.
He also called for reform of the legislative process in the form of setting a higher bar for legislation that is brought to the floor and emphasizing the importance of committees in vetting legislation before it is brought to the floor.
“I believe we need to return to a committee-driven legislature,” Cantor writes, “that investigates problems, listens intently to the citizenry, and proposes well thought-out solutions when necessary.”
He proposed that Congress should have better time management, so that more time is spent in committee and the legislation that reaches the floor is fully prepared and also worthwhile. Cantor also suggested spending less time debating low-priority legislation. For instance, he proposed getting rid of “expressions of appreciation and recognition for individuals, groups, events, and institutions,” and limiting the discussion of “designations and namings of post offices and other federal buildings” to only one day each month.
In the final section of his plan, Cantor emphasizes the “need to prioritize oversight,” specifically, “Oversight that focuses on our key themes and how we solve problems – as opposed to scoring political points.”
In conclusion, Cantor emphasized that reform won’t happen overnight.
“This will not be a sprint of 100 days or 100 hours,” Cantor wrote. “This will be a methodical march.”
(This article originally appeared on Daily Caller)
- Comment (4)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments :
May '10
Re: Eric Cantor Presents Plan For Congress, But Predicts Gridlock
The DAILY CALLER! THE DAILY CALLER! as Gutfeld might say. This is rapidly turning into one of them Media Empires I always wanted for Christmas. MKHammer was great on the Halloween episode.
I propose that Congress only meet two months out of the year, and spend a lot more time with their constituents. And limit bills to ten pages. If you need thousands of pages, you're trying far more hard than we want Congresscritters to try.
Jul '10
Re: Eric Cantor Presents Plan For Congress, But Predicts Gridlock
I said it here two weeks ago: Cantor is a guy obsessed with process.
Oct '10
Re: Eric Cantor Presents Plan For Congress, But Predicts Gridlock
Gridlock is good. When they're gridlocked, they can't spend our grand-children's 401K money anymore.
I don't know about you, but I still don't trust the Republicans after their shameful performances over the last 15 years- don't trust 'em as far as I could throw the whole lot of 'em! (It's pretty bad when the best you can say about a party is that they're better than the other one.)
All the House Republicans should do is:
They have no mandate from the people to anything else, and they would be wise to remember that! Let's hope that Cantor's prediction about grid-lock comes true and that he and his cronies have no opportunity to screw things up for the middle-right and conservatives, as his predecessors did.
Jul '10
Re: Eric Cantor Presents Plan For Congress, But Predicts Gridlock
The need for Congress to convene physically is obsolete. I forget where I first saw the idea, but the technology now exists for members to review each others arguments in text or video, debate digitally, hold cloak room discussions in a chat window while Jon Stewart provides expert testimony on insanity in another window. At the end of the day, rather than cruising K Street sponsored buffets and making waitress sandwiches, they can eat in their district among their constituency. Maybe toss a homeless family a quarter.
With no need to keep up a home in DC, the Congresscritters will have surplus income to reinvest in their communities and perform good works. This will have the downside of making Congressional lobbying more onerous, of course.
Of course, any remake of Being There will need some updating.