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Republicans are prepared to vote down a bill extending all but the top-end tax cuts, the second-ranking GOP leader in the House said Tuesday. Incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said on Bloomberg Television he was ready to instruct GOP members to vote down legislation Democrats plan to bring to the floor that would extend the expiring Bush-era tax cuts only for the middle class. Democrats in both the House and the Senate have signaled they would bring up for a vote this week bills that would extend tax cuts for all households earning less than $250,000 per year...

House Republicans are looking to repeal the healthcare reform law and replace it with one of their own early next year without interrupting two popular parts the administration has already begun to implement. They include a mandate that bars discrimination of pre-existing conditions and a stipulation that allows young people to remain on their parents' insurance plans until age 26. Incoming Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Monday that they would do this by passing a GOP healthcare bill at the same time as repeal efforts are underway. Speaking to more than 100 students at American University, Cantor said,...

A Northeast Philadelphia man pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to making death threats to a U.S. congressman. Norman LeBoon, 38, threatened the life of U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R. Va) and the lives of Cantor's family members in several videotaped rants posted on YouTube.

WASHINGTON D.C. (KMOX) - Earmark reform has been a lonely fight for a long time, says U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri). So, she reacted with pleasure when hearing President Obama say this, in his weekly media address, “As we work to reform our budget, Congress should also put some skin in the game. I agree with those Republican and Democratic members of Congress who’ve recently said that in these challenging days, we cannot afford what are called earmarks.” McCaskill says it’s encouraging to have others taking the issue of earmark reform seriously. She anticipates being the only Democrat in the...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York this morning, following yet another bumpy few days in U.S.-Israeli relations. While the Obama administration has been scrambling to find a way to try to salvage Israeli-Palestinian peace talks which have come to an impasse over resumed Israeli settlement building, Netanyahu has been sounding a triumphant note since he arrived in New Orleans over the weekend following the GOP gains in last Tuesday's midterm elections. Last night, Netanyahu met in New York for over an hour with incoming House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.),...

House Democrats "didn't get the message" from last Tuesday's election if they re-elect Nancy Pelosi as Democratic Party leader next year, the expected No. 2 Republican in the House said Sunday.

A source close to Eric Cantor tells CNN that the Republican congressman will announce his intention to run for House majority leader at 10:45 a.m. in a written statement.

Republicans are supposed to be focusing on the election every minute, every second. But with Irish bookies already paying out bets that Republicans will take back the House, who are you kidding? Of course Republicans are maneuvering behind the scenes to grab leadership slots, committee chairmanships, plum office space and God knows what else. Two recent episodes, one in the House and one in the Senate, show GOP officials are keenly watching the news for power plays and backbiting. Often, that means a game of “who leaked?” When Politico ran as its top story that House Republican Conference Chairman Mike...

A Philadelphia man has been charged after allegedly threatening the life of Rep. Eric Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the House. U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said that 38-year-old Norman LaBoon has been charged with two counts of threatening an official of the United States and with transmitting in interstate commerce a threatening communication, according to the The Philadelphia Inquirer. The FBI arrested LaBoon in March after receiving a copy of a YouTube video in which LaBoon made threats about Cantor. Officials tracked the I.P. address to a computer in Philadelphia used by LaBoon, who had previously been arrested for...

Medical journals are not always the objective, purely scientific publications we might think that they are. Their editors have increasingly strayed into politics at the expense of scientific accuracy. For example, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has over the last few months published a number of extremely biased and poorly done studies on gun control. One of the articles, written by Garen Wintemute, Anthony Braga, and David Kennedy, makes the case for extending background checks to the private transfers of guns, arguing that “perhaps the principal reason for the well-documented failure of the Brady Act to lower rates...

The time has come. We must ban and censor "Gone With The Wind" and every other movie about war. Despite entertaining countless people, these productions must cease in the name of political correctness. For that, we extend our thanks to Congressman Eric Cantor. A Republican. No, that’s not a misprint. Cantor is one of the GOP’s national leaders, poised to become majority leader should the Republicans win back the House. There’s a far more appropriate term for Cantor: garden-variety political hack. And that’s being kind. Cantor has helped create a sensationalistic story where there shouldn’t be one. In doing so,...

Mr. Cantor has just arrived back in town after five weeks criss-crossing the country stumping for scores of Republican challengers. "I've met almost all of these candidates who are likely to win in November," he says. "Believe me, this is one of the most reformist groups I've ever seen."

House Republicans have been relatively successful this week at presenting a united front around their “Pledge to America,” but only through a strategic outreach campaign to lawmakers, media and outside groups, that has managed to keep deep dissatisfaction over several key issues largely under wraps. Still, interviews with Republican aides reveal that many in the GOP caucus are unhappy that there was no earmark ban and no promise to pass a balanced budget amendment in the proposal, which was unveiled Thursday by House Minority Leader John Boehner. The inclusion of a health insurance provision considered to be mandate angered many...

So much for GM’s self-imposed ban on political contributions. According to The Washington Post: "General Motors reported making $47,000 in contributions to lawmakers and congressional candidates in July, the first it has made since November 2008. The company stopped giving through its political action committee just as it began to seek government assistance to stay in business. "The U.S. government provided support but also steered the company through bankruptcy. Today, the Treasury owns a 60 percent stake in the company, which recently announced plans to go public with a stock sale. "GM earlier gave $41,000 to groups and causes associated...

Seconds on the crap sandwich, please...The "Pledge To Recapture 1994 & Prove The Tea Partiers Aren't The Only Ones With Ideas" is still being debated by sincere, committed conservatives this morning. Frankly, I am deeply concerned for many of my friends who are obviously suffering from severe memory loss. I have been asked countless times since yesterday afternoon what I would rather see. That's easy: A pledge from John Boehner to relinquish any leadership role if the GOP regains the House in November. Trust me, any giddiness conservatives may feel in November will quickly be gone by late January when...

Two hundred twenty-one years ago, James Madison was elected to Congress from Virginia. I have been reflecting recently on what the “Father of the Constitution” might have to say if he could sit in on today’s Congress. The structure and function of the Congress — the House, the Senate, the use of Jefferson’s Manual to guide deliberations — would be familiar to him. But what would Madison think about the type of legislation we are considering and the debate surrounding these proposals? It was Madison who, seeking to calm those who feared an all-powerful central government, wrote, “The powers delegated...

With Congress back this week, Republicans need to get tough on taxes. That is, if the GOP hopes to prosper in November, party leaders need to get unambiguously with the American people -- and against the Obama administration -- in opposing tax increases. That is to say, they need to protect the soon-to-expire Bush-era tax cuts. Some are already there. Making the case forcefully are House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. The three have co-authored "Young Guns," a policy prescription recalling the GOP's "Contract With America" -- which...

House Republicans have held a series of private discussions to plot their first moves if they win the majority in November — with plans to use spending bills and subpoenas to rein in President Barack Obama and satiate their own ravenous base. Republicans recognize they won’t be able to do any broad governing even if they take back the House; they’d hold just one chamber of Congress, or at most one branch of government, if they also win the Senate. So officials familiar with the early discussions say they’ve centered on undoing key parts of the Obama agenda and repositioning...

CANTOR WON'T Public Policy Polling might be a Democratic-centric firm, but that doesn't mean that Republicans can't use the data for their own interests. That's why staffers and outside supporters for Reps. Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy, who have a new book coming out shortly that criticizes past and current GOP leadership, were over the Labor Day holiday weekend sharing PPP's Ohio poll, which showed that only 28% of John Boehner's home-state voters supported a promotion for him to Speaker of the House should the GOP win a majority later this year. "Change doesn't have to be limited to tossing...

Calling themselves the Young Guns, three members of America's House of Representatives are about to publish a template for new era of Republican domination in Congress. With the economy failing to live up to President Barack Obama's hopes for a strong recovery - unemployment remains just below ten percent - Republicans are poised for major gains on Nov 2, when all of the House and a third of Senate seats is contested in midterm elections.