Cantor: Washington forgetting about America’s creative spirit

The majority leader’s speech comes amid another busy day of discussion about measures to fund the government beyond March 4. Senate Democrats indicated on Thursday that they were looking to craft a continuing resolution for the rest of this fiscal year that would incorporate some spending cuts proposed by President Obama for fiscal 2012. 

Meanwhile, House Republicans are continuing to put together a two-week spending measure that would look to roll back spending by $4 billion, after passing legislation last week that would make $61 billion in cuts. 

Senate Democrats also leapt on a private sector report released Wednesday that said that the House-passed spending measure would impede economic growth.

In his speech, Cantor will also tout America’s history of innovation — mentioning companies such as Facebook and Apple — and credit institutions like Harvard for helping foster a “culture of opportunity” where people start businesses, even with the knowledge they might fail.

But Cantor is also expected to add that he is worried that Washington is forgetting about that pioneering spirit. “My concern is we are becoming a country more concerned about government-sponsored financial security than individual-driven opportunity. That to me threatens the American ideal and jeopardizes the notion that each generation can live better than the last,” Cantor’s prepared remarks say.

And he will also contrast demonstrations in Greece and France over retirement benefits with the town halls here that expressed skepticism about the healthcare overhaul.

“The contrast was astonishing and the message clear: On one side of the Atlantic, people expected a government-funded future, while on the other they wanted to stop it,” the Virginia Republican is to say. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee responded to Cantor’s speech by declaring that the majority leader’s zeal for budget-cutting hurt funding for schools and veterans but did little to special interests, such as oil companies. 

“While everyone recognizes the need to cut spending and lower the deficit, listening to a lecture on cutting spending from someone like Republican Leader Eric Cantor is only a reminder that he spent taxpayer money like a drunken sailor during the Bush years and is happy to keep spending it as long as it goes to his corporate special interest buddies,” Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman for the committee, said in a statement.