Great, Just Friggin Great... Cantor To GOP: Dems Caved In Sequestration Battle - TPMDC [View all]

[WillyT]

Cantor To GOP: Dems Caved In Sequestration Battle
Sahil Kapur - TPMDC
April 26, 2013, 12:35 PM

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In advance of Friday’s vote on a bill to ameliorate sequester-induced airport delays, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) sought to sell Republican members on the legislation by describing it as a total surrender by the White House and Democrats.

It succeeded. The chamber voted 361-41 to pass it, giving the Federal Aviation Administration flexibility to shift resources in order to mitigate airport delays. The bill, having already cleared the Senate, will go to President Obama’s desk for his signature.

Cantor’s memo Friday morning, passed along to TPM by a leadership source, cited headlines about Democrats “blink[ing]” first in the FAA delays battle and the White House “scrambl[ing] for damage control.” It also quoted a tweet by Roll Call reporter Steven Dennis calling the legislation “a complete, utter cave by Senate Democrats and, if signed, by the White House.”

“This victory is in large part a result of our standing together under the banner of #Obamaflightdelays,” Cantor said.

The vote is a win for Republicans, who have insisted on mitigating the worst impacts of the sequester without raising so much as a penny in new tax revenues, which Obama and Democratic leaders have insisted on in any deal to ease the pain of the automatic cuts.

The relevant portion of Cantor’s memo:

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More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/04/cantor-memo-faa-vote-democrats-caved.php