Free Republic

In a year when spending, deficits and debt have dominated the national debate, the recent push to strip Planned Parenthood of government funding is a reminder that the abortion issue retains its political potency. The decades-old battle nearly derailed the latest spending deal on Capitol Hill, and House Republicans say they’ll continue to fight federal funding of the group after Congress returns from a two-week break to tackle the nation’s borrowing limit, 2012 spending levels and the soaring national debt. “We believe very strongly that government dollars shouldn’t be used to fund abortion. I believe that is where the majority...

“$33 billion” -- Approximate amount of borrowing power the federal government has remaining under the current debt ceiling. Congress is in recess and President Obama is campaigning and fundraising in California, but the government is less than 10 days away from what administration officials have deemed an economic Armageddon. Is the federal debt ceiling not as big a deal as we’ve been told? Can Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner begin to slow down borrowing to extend the deadline? Or is there just a serious lack of urgency here? The federal government borrowed $3.8 billion on Tuesday. That’s the last day’s data...

"I don't think he is really serious when we see a campaign launch on the birther issue," Cantor said. On Friday, Karl Rove told Fox News Trump is a "joke candidate" because of his birther-centric media cavalcade. "It's amazing," Trump said. "He's so against me, because I am questioning. All I want to see is the guy's birth certificate."

Pawlenty’s comments not welcomed by congressional GOP By Russell Berman - 04/13/11 05:34 PM ET Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty’s criticism of the budget deal Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) struck with Democrats drew a chilly response from the House GOP leadership. “I think Tim Pawlenty and others are entitled to their opinion,” Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told The Hill. “This is a deal the Speaker struck. It was the best deal he could strike given the fact he was dealing with the White House and the Senate.” Pawlenty said in a statement Wednesday the agreement “should be rejected.” "The...

In a sign that Donald Trump’s self-promotion tour and possible run for president continues to make the Republican establishment nervous, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Wednesday minimized the wealthy developer’s run because he was focusing on President Obama’s birthplace. “I don't think he is really serious when we … see a campaign launched on the birther issue,” said Cantor (R- Va.) speaking on CNN’s “American Morning.”Trump has become almost a fixture on cable television shows in recent weeks as he has resurrected the issue of where the president was born. The Obama campaign long ago released documents showing Obama...

Do House Republican leaders want to put taxes on the table as they try to tackle the deficit? House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) had been staking out slightly different stances on whether tax increases should be a part of the discussion on entitlement reform, with Boehner leaving a small window and Cantor taking a hard line. When asked by George Stephanopoulos on ABC last week, Boehner said, “I’ll put everything on the table.” “I think Washington has a spending problem,” Boehner said. “I don’t think it has a revenue problem. I’m not interested...

The war of words over a possible government shutdown escalated sharply Thursday afternoon, even as polls suggest voters are increasingly angry over the political games that are standing in the way of budget cuts and a deal to fund federal operations. Members of both parties jeered each other on the floor of the House Thursday, as congressional decorum appeared to break down. At one point Democrats chanted “Bush, Bush, Bush!” in an effort to blame the nations budget woes on former President George W. Bush. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., reminded colleagues: “We are trying to do the business...

Even as the United States fights a "kinetic military action" in Libya, there's plenty of non-"kinetic" con flict here at home. It's a war for our economic viability and the validity of our electoral process -- and it's one we can't afford to lose. Start in Wisconsin, the proxy battleground pro tem of the intensified national partisan conflict. Democrats there still refuse to accept that elections have consequences: They're still trying to block and/or roll back Gov. Scott Walker's agenda by any means. With the state facing a $3.1 billion shortfall over the next two years, Walker won office on...

Moving to the right of Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor distanced himself Tuesday from spending compromises discussed with the White House and took a harder line on whether Republicans should keep the government open absent a budget deal next week. “Time is up here,” said the Virginia Republican, telling reporters that a short-term continuing resolution “without a long-term commitment is unacceptable” and that the leadership must push for the full $61 billion in spending cuts approved by the House last month. “That is the House position. That is what we are driving for,” Cantor said. When asked...

RICHMOND, Va. – House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Thursday said Congress is unlikely to take away the popular mortgage interest tax break. Speaking to a crowd of real estate professionals in his hometown, Cantor said the tax would be considered as part of the larger tax reform discussion. But he suggested a change is probably not in the cards. “Honestly, there’s not a lot of support for getting rid of the mortgage deduction on Capitol Hill,” Cantor said to loud applause from the audience. Cantor was speaking to nearly 200 members of the Richmond Association of REALTORs. It...

SNIP The other lawmakers in attendance (beside Sen. Richard Lugar R-IN) were Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-TX), Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Rep. Buck McKeon (R-NY), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA). Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough held a conference call with...

Virginia Tea Party activists this weekend turned up the pressure on House Majority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) over the speed at which the GOP-led Congress is looking to cut spending.  Leaders of the Virginia Tea Party Patriot Federation issued a tough statement on Sunday, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, calling on Cantor to make deeper cuts to the budget at a faster pace. "We are extremely disappointed in Eric Cantor, but not surprised," Mark K. Lloyd, the group's chairman, said in a release. "The will of the American people was pretty clear in November — cut, cut, cut spending. Apparently,...

(CNSNews.com) - When asked today whether he thought the resignation of National Public Radio CEO Vivian Schiller was a good move, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) responded that House Republicans will “proceed” with defunding NPR. “The statements were that NPR realizes it doesn’t need taxpayer funding. That's what the statement was about," Cantor said at a news availability following a meeting of the House Republican Conference. "So perhaps the truth finally came out and we are going to proceed along those lines because that’s what was said and indicated by that organization. "As far as individual statements that he...

On Friday, 92 Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, joined all of the Democrats to defeat an amendment offered up by Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn to ensure the GOP lived up to its “$100 billion in cuts” pledge. This was a failure of leadership, particularly by Eric Cantor. Blackburn’s amendment, by its own description, would have “reduce[d] spending by 5.5% in 8 non-securiy spending subsections of the bill and reduce[d] Legislative Branch appropriations by 11%.” In other words, just as Republicans pledged to bring spending down to 2008 levels, Congresswoman Blackburn’s amendment would have...

Who would believe last November that we would have Republicans in the House voting against spending cuts? Last night Mark Levin linked to a story on his facebook page by Dan Riehl about how the US House Leadership voted with the Democrats to block a spending cut amendment. The amendment would have cut an additional $22 Billion on top of the proposed $61 Billion in the Republican measure. Here's the list, I counted, there are 92 Republicans alright, who voted with the Democrats. All of the Democrats. I've found three of them in my state, find yours. Unfortunately, along with...

It’s the story that won’t die – possibly because MSNBC doesn’t want it to, since it seems that it could delegitimize the Republican Party and conservatives: Taking “fringe notions” and portraying them to be mainstream, including the issue of President Barack Obama’s citizenship. On Tuesday’s “Hardball,” host Chris Matthews led off his program and scrutinized the reasons why Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor won’t condemn Republican members that question the president’s citizenship. His conclusion? Boehner and Cantor are collaborators, using the myth for political gain. “OK, you know what I want to do...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) Washington (CNSNews.com) – House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told CNSNews.com today that “one way or the other” the upcoming continuing resolution necessary to keep the government funded through fiscal 2011 will deny funding to the ObamaCare law.At his weekly press briefing, CNSNews.com asked Cantor, "On the CR [continuing resolution], when that bill comes to the floor, will there be any funding for the health care reform law in it?"Cantor said, “I expect to see, one way or the other, the product coming out of the House to speak to that [ObamaCare funding]...

(Reuters) - The House of Representatives will vote to block funding for President Barack Obama's signature healthcare overhaul when it takes up a budget plan it will consider next week, House Republican Leader Eric Cantor said on Tuesday.

Virginia --(Ammoland.com)- THE GOOD NEWS U.S. Senate leaders agreed to adjourn the first legislative day of the 112th Congress, without a vote to change the rules to silence outspoken pro-gun advocates. This effectively ended the chances for anti-gun Obamacrats to prevent conservative heroes like Senator Rand Paul from using the filibuster as a tool to fight for your right to keep and bear arms. Your calls and emails made a difference. Thank YOU! HB 1438 The 10th Amendment Freedom Act, exempting all goods (including Guns) from control by the feds via the interstate commerce clause, passed the House and is...

It's bipartisan date night on the floor of the House and invitations are flying. But not all are being accepted. House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has rejected an invitation from Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., to sit together at the President's State of the Union Address. Pelosi moments ago announced that she had already extended an invitation to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, of Maryland, who also happens to be a Republican. Cantor was shot down in a tweet from the former speaker. "I thank @GOPLeader for his #SOTU offer, but I invited my friend Rep. Bartlett from MD yesterday &...