Chris Wallace: “Aren’t <the people> basically disagreeing with the Republican agenda?”

Eric Cantor:  “It is unfair that these individuals who want a better life and want more jobs and higher pay are not getting it….What is not fair is that we are holding back the economy to grow because you are having Barack Obama working with the Democrats in the Senate, Reid and others, who are saying no to every time we want to grow the economy.”

After being shamed into supporting tax cuts for the middle class – Republicans have decided to try to change the media narrative and to get back on the pro-tax cut horse.  House Majority Leader Cantor (R-VA) proposes a Republican plan to cut taxes on small businesses:

“We’ll be bringing forward a bill that brings a 20 percent tax cut for small businesses knowing full well that small businesses create 60 percent of the lobs in this country”

But here is what the Republicans actually have done – when they’re not trying to pass tax cuts for the wealthy ”job creators”,  they are offering platitudes like “remove regulatory burdens” and “cut taxes for small businesses”.  But Republican plans always tend to mirror what I imagine a magician might propose if one were an elected to Congress.  The Republican plan for jobs essentially boils down to this:

Please – everyone…come around.  Take a look at what I’m holding in my right hand.  You may notice in my right hand – I have tax cuts for the middle class and small businesses.  I have “removing regulatory burdens” in my right hand as well.  Watch my right hand very, very slowly.  <POOF>  Those tax cuts are gone!  Look what I have in my left hand.  Tax cuts for the rich and large corporations.  <Crowd applause>

That’s the whole trick and they think you’re stupid enough to fall for it every time; it worked in 2010 after all.  And just like every other Republican tax cut that they propose – my crystal ball tells me that analysts will conclude that 95% of small businesses who make 100k or less will receive VERY little in tax cuts; however, large wealthy financial interests i.e. Republican donors receive HUGE tax windfalls.  THAT is the Republican plan.  After all – why stop supporting Trickle Down economics now when it has proven to be so successful over the past 30 years – right?

But some Democrats have argued that plan could simply provide a huge tax cut for wealthy businessmen without doing anything to guarantee the money would go to creating job growth. Cantor dismissed that argument, saying that all Americans were “in this together.”

Source: THE HILL

Now back to the video from today – remember, Congressman Cantor claimed:

“It is unfair that these individuals who want a better life and want more jobs and higher pay are not getting it….What is not fair is that we are holding back the economy to grow because you are having Barack Obama working with the Democrats in the Senate, Reid and others, who are saying no to every time we want to grow the economy.”

Now on the evening of Obama’s jobs proposal, Eric Cantor said:

“This is my objection to the message that was delivered tonight.  The message was: either accept my package as it is, or I will take it to the American people. I would say that that’s the wrong approach. What we’re here to do is try to transcend differences, not let them get in the way in the areas we can make progress on.”

Source: POLITICO

Of course back in early October of 2011:

At a Capitol Hill briefing on Monday, a reporter asked Cantor whether the “jobs package as a package [was] dead?”

Cantor said, “yes,” and shortly thereafter said, “It seems as if the president is in full campaign mode. The president continues to say ‘pass my bill in its entirety.’ As I’ve said from the outset, this all-or-nothing approach is just not acceptable.”

Source: Here

And in early October – the Senate had a majority vote to support passing the Obama jobs plan…but Republicans killed it with a filibuster despite having 51 votes to proceed with debate on the bill.  Every single Republican voted AGAINST even debating Obama’s proposal.  But Majority Leader Cantor claims that Democrats are obstructing jobs, and then he says:

“The Senate’s rejection of the President’s jobs bill proves once and for all that there isn’t sufficient support on either side of the aisle for his all-or-nothing approach.  With millions of people out of work, I hope that the President will put the brakes on his campaign-style speeches and work with Congress on areas where there is bipartisan support to spur economic growth and get people back to work.”

Remember – It’s MAGIC.

Source: The Huffington Post

And earlier than that – on May 26th, 2011 – Eric Cantor discusses with Larry Kudlow on CNBC the Republican plan to lessen regulatory burdens and cut taxes on small businesses.  Sound familiar?  Oh by the way – they also proposed a 25% maximum rate on the wealthiest households which would have taken the richest Americans from 35% down to 25% under the guise that they would remove loopholes etc.

And he proposes these massive tax cuts for the rich all at the same time that he lambasts the Democratic party for a huge deficit.  But don’t worry…they’ve got covered – under the Ryan plan to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires – they’re going to pay for that with cuts to Medicare and a plan to eventually privatize it.  It’s MAGIC.

It is important to remember that he’s blasting President Obama and the Democratic party right as the Republican party was CHOKING off economic confidence by holding the economy hostage and failing to increase the debt ceiling for the first time in history despite having passed it multitudes of times under George W. Bush.  America is one of only two countries in the world that even HAVE a debt ceiling.

To date – very, very little of the Obama jobs plan has actually passed because Republicans in the House won’t vote on it and Republicans on the Senate won’t allow for debate to begin i.e. “the filibuster”:

Thursday’s vote was a rare example of common ground as the House voted 406 to 16 to eliminate a yet-to-be enacted law that would withhold 3 percent of payments to government contractors. The Senate is expected to pass the measure next week.

It could be one of the few elements of Obama’s $447 billion job-creation package to pass Congress. Republicans oppose several of the bill’s direct-spending measures and have so far declined to say whether they would back the tax cuts for workers that make up the bulk of the bill.Republicans are advancing a rival agenda of their own, centered around expanding domestic oil and gas drilling and relaxing pollution controls and other business regulations.

Source: Reuters

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