Cantor: ‘America needs a Republican Party’

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters in Richmond, Va., that there would not be another government shut down early next year.

{mosads}Although his hopes for a grand bargain on federal budget negotiations has faded, Cantor is optimistic about small steps toward immigration reform and other policy compromises, according to an editorial in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Overall, Cantor said that Republicans need to do a better job of asking how the party can fix Americans’ problems.

Among his priorities is Republican legislation that would pave a path to citizenship for children brought to the United States illegally, called the KIDS Act, which he co-sponsored with Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).

Given slower-than expected economic growth, Cantor wants Republicans to unify their base by promoting upward income mobility.

“We’re about individual empowerment,” he told the newspaper’s editorial staff. “Everyone needs a fair shot.”

Specifically, he thinks others in the party should work to dispel what he says is the myth that Republicans don’t care about everyday Americans.

“To be a country with wealth creation and opportunity, not redistribution, America needs a Republican Party.”