Two things from Rep. Eric Cantor. First is an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor that I thought I’d post, in case you missed it last week. Laura Ingraham filled in for O’Reilly and pressed Rep. Cantor on his commitment to, among other things, repealing ObamaCare. This is an issue we’ve been highlighting on this blog, so I thought you’d want to see the congressman’s response. You can decide if his general attitude of, “Laura, you know me better than that.” is compelling.
Second is an op-ed he wrote for the USA Today in which he accurately addresses the massive tax hike bearing down on us, ready to strike on January 1, 2011:
•Taxes will jump next year on everything from ordinary income, capital gains, dividends and estates. And with our national debt soaring, the prospect of even more tax increases in the future seems more likely.
•Health-care costs are growing as a result of Obamacare’s mandates and inflationary impact on premiums.
•Energy costs remain in limbo as leading Democrats, led by Sen. John Kerry, float the idea of passing cap-and-trade during the lame-duck session of Congress.
•Credit is becoming more expensive and is increasingly out of reach for most small businesses, partly because the 2,300-plus page financial regulatory bill encourages banks to horde their capital rather than lend it.
•Labor costs also threaten to climb higher as labor unions dig in their heels and gear up for another push to pass card check.
I thank Rep. Cantor for raising this important issue. It’s interesting because Democrats know (a) this tax hike will crush the economy even more, but (b) extending the Bush tax cuts will go a long way to soften the blow. Some are even open to doing just that.
Maybe it’s time we tell Senators Webb and Warner we expect them to join this growing bi-partisan coalition to do something that will actually help our battered economy.
