Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), the current Minority Whip in the House, and potential Majority Leader in the next Congress now that the House has shifted from Democratic to Republican control, has released an outline of his priorities and commitment to creating jobs and boosting the economy. Delivering On Our Commitment: A Majority to Limit Government and Create Jobs focuses on four areas:
- Creating jobs,
- Reducing government spending,
- Putting in place a new standard for prioritizing legislation, and
- Strengthening oversight
In an effort to reduce spending, Cantor is proposing to introduce a series of rescission bills that would cancel previously approved but unspent funds. The goal of the rescission bills is to offset the spending that “exploded in the last Congress.” Cantor also intends to expand the YouCut project which allows the public to vote online for spending cuts they would like to see. The program with the most votes is then put before the House for a vote. Cantor stated in this proposal that as Majority Leader he will schedule at least one YouCut proposal each week.
While it remains to be seen how far Republican proposals to drastically reduce spending will get in a divided Congress, all programs are fair game. That is why is vitally important that you make the clear connection to your representatives in Congress between CTE and turning around the economy and creating jobs.