Democrats bash Cantor over debt talks
By Paul Kane, Lori Montgomery and William Branigin,
WashPost
Updated: Thursday, July 14, 3:02 PM
Congressional Democrats took aim Thursday at conservative Republicans who oppose raising the federal debt ceiling, with Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) charging that a top GOP negotiator, Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), “shouldn’t even be at the table” in crucial White House talks on the issue.
In a hard-hitting floor speech Thursday morning, Reid urged the “irresponsible voices in the Republican Party” to end what he called their denial about the impact of a U.S. default on its obligations and listen to business community leaders, bankers, investors, economists, credit rating agencies and “reasonable” members of their own party. He singled out Cantor, the House majority leader and one of four GOP negotiators in stalled debt-reduction talks with President Obama, for special criticism, saying that his opposition to a deal to raise the federal borrowing limit has put him at odds with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Boehner later publicly defended Cantor, appearing with him at a Capitol news conference to dismiss the criticism. With his arm about his House deputy, Boehner rejected “any suggestion” that Cantor’s role in the White House talks “has been anything less than helpful.”
But Boehner also left the door open to a “backup plan” advanced by McConnell that would allow Obama to raise the federal debt limit in three “tranches” totaling about $2.5 trillion by next summer. Cantor has implicitly rejected the proposal. Boehner told reporters Thursday afternoon that the McConnell option was “worth keeping on the table.”
(More here.)
WashPost
Updated: Thursday, July 14, 3:02 PM
Congressional Democrats took aim Thursday at conservative Republicans who oppose raising the federal debt ceiling, with Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) charging that a top GOP negotiator, Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), “shouldn’t even be at the table” in crucial White House talks on the issue.
In a hard-hitting floor speech Thursday morning, Reid urged the “irresponsible voices in the Republican Party” to end what he called their denial about the impact of a U.S. default on its obligations and listen to business community leaders, bankers, investors, economists, credit rating agencies and “reasonable” members of their own party. He singled out Cantor, the House majority leader and one of four GOP negotiators in stalled debt-reduction talks with President Obama, for special criticism, saying that his opposition to a deal to raise the federal borrowing limit has put him at odds with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Boehner later publicly defended Cantor, appearing with him at a Capitol news conference to dismiss the criticism. With his arm about his House deputy, Boehner rejected “any suggestion” that Cantor’s role in the White House talks “has been anything less than helpful.”
But Boehner also left the door open to a “backup plan” advanced by McConnell that would allow Obama to raise the federal debt limit in three “tranches” totaling about $2.5 trillion by next summer. Cantor has implicitly rejected the proposal. Boehner told reporters Thursday afternoon that the McConnell option was “worth keeping on the table.”
(More here.)
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