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Biden vs. Cantor
Friday, July 17, 2009 
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) landed a fresh blow in a tit-for-tat battle with Vice President Biden today after the latter accused the senior Republican lawmaker of smearing the administration's $787 billion stimulus package. Cantor called an afternoon news conference to pre-empt remarks Biden is expected to make today in Richmond in support of the recovery bill, excerpts of which were obtained in advance by The Washington Post. "To those who say that our economic decisions 'have not produced jobs, have not produced and simply have not worked' I say, take a look around," Biden will say while visiting Cantor's home district. "I say, 'Don't let your opposition to the Recovery Act blind you to its results. Come see what I see everywhere I go: workers rehired, factories reopened, cops on the street, teachers in the classroom, progress toward getting our economy back on the move.'" Without naming Cantor directly, the rhetorical assault is aimed squarely at the Richmond lawmaker, who has helped lead the Republican Party to its most effective message since Obama became president: that Obama's stimulus bill has not produced jobs. At this afternoon's news conference, Cantor said that since the stimulus bill passed, unemployment had increased in Richmond, in Virginia and across the country. "The president seems to be concerned about anything but creating jobs," he said. "Millions of jobs will be crushed by this administration's policies." Cantor said he hoped Biden "takes some time to hear from job creators today and I know that if he listens he will hear them telling him to stop penalizing their small businesses." Seeking to pre-empt Biden's planned remarks that tens of millions of dollars in stimulus money have saved teacher jobs in Chesterfield County and police officers in Richmond, Cantor said: "Where I'm looking is where families of Virginia and America are looking and that's at the unemployment rate, which is skyrocketing. The reality is that people are losing their jobs. Families are going into economic free-fall." In the weekly Republican radio address he delivered for his party last week, Cantor called the Recovery Act a "bill full of pork barrel spending, government waste and massive borrowing cleverly called 'stimulus.' Obama's economic decisions have not produced jobs, have not produced prosperity and simply have not worked." Biden, for his part, is expected to take direct aim at that contention. "I ask those critics.... Would they not help the states prevent lay off thousands of teachers, firefighters, cops?" Biden will say in the remarks. "Would they not give a tax cut to 95 percent of the American people? Would they sit back and do nothing as our economy collapsed?" Biden's speech is part of a newly aggressive White House effort to counter Republican criticism of the stimulus, which has mounted as unemployment has continued to rise. White House officials concede that Republicans have effectively stoked questions about why the stimulus spending has not created or saved more jobs. In Michigan this week, newspapers and local officials greeted President Obama with tough words about the stimulus as he arrived for an education speech. But the White House argues that the Republican opposition has been misleading, and has decided to be more aggressive in pointing out what administration officials say are hyperbolic accusations from the GOP. When Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) last week claimed that "there hasn't been a contract let, to my knowledge" because of the stimulus package, the White House quickly pounced. Biden traveled to Ohio to urge patience and attack Republicans for seeking to "do nothing" to improve the economy. He also pointed out that millions of dollars from the stimulus bill had in fact already been spent in the state. By taking aim at Cantor, the White House hopes to make an example of Republicans who they say are trying to take both sides on the stimulus issue. Although Cantor has been outspoken in his criticism of the stimulus bill as wasteful and not effective, he recently joined his congressional colleagues in urging Virginia's transportation department to apply for stimulus money for high-speed rail, a pet project of his. Today, Cantor said that his constituents "overwhelmingly" supported the high-speed rail line between Richmond and Washington, DC, but added: "Despite my heart felt support for high-speed rail, the merit of this one project does not excuse the thousands of others that do not create jobs." Original Article |
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