DEMS WILL NOT CONCEDE ON STIMULUS…. House Minority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), as part of his efforts to undermine confidence in the stimulus package, is talking to reporters again today to blast the recovery package. Just as important, though, the White House and its allies aren’t ceding any ground to Cantor on the issue.
The DNC, for example, is reminding journalists today that, as recently as April, Cantor was in home district bragging about the thousands of jobs to be created in his home state, including a high-speech rail project in his district.
“It’s not that surprising that yet another Republican has been caught speaking out of both sides of his mouth on the effects of the Recovery Act. But Eric Cantor and his fellow Republicans can’t have it both ways. Either they are for economic recovery and the jobs it’s bringing to the folks they represent, or they are against it,” said DNC national press secretary Hari Sevugan in an e-mail.
What’s more, it’s not just the DNC.
Vice President Biden plans a political broadside this afternoon in the home district of Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), accusing the senior Republican lawmaker of joining in his party’s smear of the $787 billion Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“To those who say that our economic decisions ‘have not produced jobs, have not produced prosperity, and simply have not worked’ I say, take a look around,” Biden will say, according to prepared remarks obtained by The Washington Post.
“I say, ‘Don’t let your opposition to the Recovery Act blind you to its results,’” Biden plans to say in the Richmond speech. “‘Come see what I see everywhere I go: workers rehired, factories reopened, cops on the street, teachers in the classroom, progress toward getting our economy back on the move.’”
Biden will reportedly not mention Cantor directly, but given the location of the VP’s speech and the message, the volley is hard to miss.
“I ask those critics…. Would they not help the states prevent lay off thousands of teachers, firefighters, cops?” Biden will say in the remarks. “Would they not give a tax cut to 95 percent of the American people? Would they sit back and do nothing as our economy collapsed?”
Last week, Biden was in Ohio, shortly after House Minority Leader John Boehner (R) became embarrassingly confused about stimulus efforts in his home state. This week, he’s in Virginia, confronting Cantor’s rhetoric.
The message seems obvious: the White House isn’t going to concede anything when it comes to Republicans’ economic arguments. Sounds like a good idea.
