HILL: Joining us now from Capitol Hill is House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Sir, good to have you with us this morning.
CANTOR: Good morning, Erica.
HILL: As we looked at and- it has been sort of been analyzed, of
course, over the past few days, the Republican plan- it essentially
looks to slash the deficit through cuts, but doesn't there also need to
be, perhaps, some more money coming in to, at the same time, pay things
down and make a meaningful dent. Can you really establish that just
through cuts?
CANTOR: Erica, you're right. We cannot fix our fiscal crisis and bring
down the debt just through cuts alone, but everybody understands that
Washington has been on a spending binge of late, and we've got to start
spending money the way that taxpayers are right now, and that's learning
how to do more with less. But you're right, we need to grow this
economy, and I think that's where the difference is and I'm hopeful I
can hear from the President today something that actually will come to
the middle and meet us. I don't think there are many Americans right now
who want to pay more taxes. We are a few days out from tax day, and I
think most people understand that Washington doesn't have a revenue
problem. It has a spending problem. And the crux of the issue here is
how are we going to get this economy going again and get people back to
work without imposing more burdens on working families, and we can't
raise taxes. I mean, that was settled, I think, last November during the
election.
HILL: So you say absolutely not, in terms of raising taxes. You
mentioned the burden. The goal which we've heard from representatives,
of course, on both sides of the aisle is to not continue to pass this
debt down to everyone's children. But at some point, does there have to
be a little give and take, because, as we're seeing in the Republican
plan, there are tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, yet, there are
also cuts and changes to social services programs for some of the
neediest here for seniors and for the poor?
CANTOR: What we have proposed, when you're talking about the kinds of
programs that have posed the biggest challenges, as far as our debt is
concerned, you're talking about the entitlement programs, and the
reality is, the Congressional Budget Office says these programs, like
Medicare and Medicaid, are in serious trouble, and within the next ten
years, we'll go into a bankrupt-like situation. We want to save these
programs for the people that need them. That's our goal. We don't think
that you should let people who need a safety net out there on their own.
We believe in a safety net for those who need it, not for those who
don't. And so, our plan tries to save Medicare for everyone. For those
55 and older, we say those individuals will not see any change in their
benefits. But for the rest of us, we're going to have to accept the fact
that these programs are not going to look the same for us, and we're
trying to change the nature of those programs for the younger
generations, so they will be around for the people who need them.
HILL Real quickly, sir, when you meet with the President today, you
want to hear something meaningful, but what are you going to say to him?
CANTOR: Well, we're going to say to him, look, that we're glad you're
finally coming to the table. You know, the President has missed the
opportunity when he presented his budget to the country in the State of
the Union address. He missed the opportunity to even talk about the
specifics that he envisioned to how to address the debt problem we've
got in this country. So I'm looking forward to telling him, look, we
want to work with you. We've got problems and they were caused by both
sides. We want to come together, we want to work with you to try and fix
this debt problem, and get the economy back on track, so more people
can get back to work.
HILL: We will be looking for the results of that meeting and for more
of the many meetings to come on the budget. Congressman Eric Cantor,
thanks for your time this morning.
CANTOR: Thank you.
