Eric Cantor has taken more legalistic bribes from the finance sector-- $5,046,285-- than any other currently serving Member of Congress. This year, as he championed Wall Street over Main Street again and again and again, the Richmond-area Republican overtook two other stunningly crooked congressmen, Charlie Rangel and Spencer Bachus, as Wall Street's #1 favorite. Last night Cantor showed once again why Wall Street invests so heavily in his career; he walked out on the deficit reduction talks Vice President Biden was holding. Cantor wants tax hikes on the rich off the table, which would force cutbacks in basic services like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, infrastructure, etc. onto the chopping block. (Senate obstructionist Jon Kyl walked out of the talks with Cantor.) And Democrats have mentioned that corrupt anti-tax fanatic Grover Norquist, whose entire life is financed by anti-tax billionaires, is the inspiration for Cantor's irresponsible behavior.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a participant in the debt talks being led by Vice President Biden, said he was “disappointed” Cantor left the talks and accused GOP leaders of being more interested in pleasing Norquist than they are balancing budgets.
“The reality here is that, until our Republican colleagues are more concerned about the need to reduce the deficit than they're worried about what Grover Norquist will say, we're going to have a really difficult time reducing the deficit,” Van Hollen told reporters during a press conference in the Capitol.
...Van Hollen remained largely silent on the specific tax hikes the Democrats have pushed for during the negotiations, making only a passing reference to “a menu of eliminating different kinds of special interest tax breaks and dealing with tax exemptions for the very wealthy.”
“Yes, we have put proposals on the table to say for folks at the very high end we believe there's a responsible way to phase out some of those deductions,” Van Hollen said.“Even now I'm not going to get into the details,” he added.
Later, however, Van Hollen mentioned agriculture subsidies as one area Democrats are eying seriously.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested Cantor overreacted by quitting the talks as both sides were claiming progress toward a deal.
“Yes, we do want to reduce tax subsidies for Big Oil [and] we want to remove tax breaks for corporations that send jobs overseas-- that list goes on,” Pelosi said. “I don't know that that's a reason to walk away from the table.”
Van Hollen noted that even many conservative economists are calling for tax hikes to be a part of any effort to rein in soaring deficits and balance the budget.
“The framework that's been put out by different bipartisan groups say that you need to ask for shared sacrifice,” Van Hollen said.
He said the negotiations “had been proceeding well,” but he was quick to concede that the two sides had a long ways to go to reach a deal.
“There is no doubt that there were some very difficult issues that needed to be decided,” Van Hollen said.
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), the vice chairman of the Democratic Caucus, slammed Cantor for walking away from the table.
“Instead of making the hard choices to find a responsible way to reduce the deficit, Republicans are running away from the mess they created,” Becerra said in a statement. “Is this the adult moment they promised the American people in November?”
Kabuki dance or real? Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who IS for real, warned Obama not to use the GOP walkout as an excuse for giving in... again.
“The Republican walkout should not result in the president and vice president capitulating to Republican demands. Poll after poll shows that the American people do not agree with the Republican approach, which suggests that the wealthiest people in the country and the largest corporations should be exempt from participating in deficit reduction.
“The American people do not believe, as the Republicans do, that the budget should be solely balanced on the backs of the middle class, the elderly, the sick, the children and the poor. The American people want shared sacrifice and President Obama must not yield one inch from that principle.”
Yesterday Gingrich, who, it turns out didn't just have the $500,000 revolving credit line at Tiffany's but a second line for a million dollars, attacked Obama as "the best food stamp president in American history." Have any of these guys ever read Jesus... ever? How do the Republicans have the unmitigated gall to call themselves Christians when all they stand for is boosting the wealthy at the expense of the needy? Do you think Gingrich and his pals are counting on strings of diamonds to get them through the eye of a needle before camels? Do they suppose kicking the poor will give them extra credit? Or do they just laugh at the poor suckers who believe-- in religion and in them?
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