Bloomberg
By Greg Giroux and Jesse Hamilton
June 15, 2014
U.S.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who was ousted in a Republican
primary last week in Virginia, defended his views on revising
immigration laws while saying his
position “can make a lot of people mad” in both political parties.
Cantor,
who’s stepping down as the second-ranking House Republican, said today
that he’s always supported giving legal status to certain undocumented
children while opposing
a broader rewrite of immigration laws that the Democratic-led U.S.
Senate passed last year.
“Did
that infuriate folks on both sides? Sure,” Cantor said on ABC’s “This
Week” program. “But it is the principled position. I think an
incremental reform approach to
immigration is what we need.”
He said earlier on CNN’s “State of the Union” program that he’s been consistent in his views on immigration legislation.
“I’ve
always said that I am not for a comprehensive amnesty bill, but I’ve
always said that I was for the kids who, through no fault of their own,
find themselves here
and know no other place as home,” Cantor said.
Cantor
will resign as House majority leader on July 31 after losing a June 10
primary to David Brat, a little-known college economics professor, in
one of the biggest
election upsets in U.S. history. Cantor, who’s represented the
Richmond-area 7th District since 2001, will serve the rest of his term,
which ends in January.
Tea Party
Defeating
Cantor, a seven-term House member, is the small-government Tea Party
movement’s biggest win since it grew out of U.S. responses to the 2008
financial crisis.
Brat
criticized Cantor for voting to increase the federal borrowing limit
and accused him of backing a rewrite of immigration laws that opponents
call “amnesty.”
Brat
defeated Cantor by 11 percentage points in the primary, which drew more
than 65,000 voters compared with 47,000 in the 2012 Republican primary.
Cantor won 28,902
votes in the election, down 23 percent from 37,369 in 2012.
Cantor
was defeated for re-election as Senator Lindsey Graham of South
Carolina, an advocate of overhauling immigration laws, won a Republican
primary the same day with
56 percent of the vote against six opponents. Graham was among 14
Republicans who voted last June for a bill that would create a path to
citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., while
directing $46.3 billion toward securing the border
with Mexico.
‘Liability Locally’
“I
don’t think Eric got beat because of his stand on immigration,” Graham
said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “I think he got beat because
his lack of defining himself
on immigration.”
Reince
Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said
Cantor’s leadership position and focus on helping Republicans nationwide
hurt him in his district.
Serving
as majority leader “takes you out all over this country, takes you out
of your district, and pretty soon, that good work you’re doing
nationally becomes a liability
locally,” Priebus said on CBS.
Cantor declined to speculate on why he lost.
“I
really don’t think that there is any one reason for the outcome of the
election,” Cantor said on CNN. “There are just a lot of things that go
through voters’ minds
when they go through the voting booth.”
Cantor said that he hasn’t made any decisions about his future.
No Lobbying
“I’m
not ready to close out any options right now,” Cantor said. “I just
think that right now there’s a lot of opportunity. I’ve been very
gratified by the people who
have already called and said, ’Hey, what are you doing.’”
Asked directly, Cantor said he didn’t want to lobby Congress.
“I don’t think that I want to be a lobbyist, but I do want to play a role in the public debate,” Cantor said on ABC.
Cantor
is supporting Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California, the
third-ranking House Republican, to succeed him as majority leader. House
Republicans plan a June 19
vote.
McCarthy
is favored to win the No. 2 spot in Congress behind House Speaker John
Boehner of Ohio. McCarthy recruited Republican candidates and raised
money for them during
the 2010 campaign, when Republicans won a majority of House seats.
McCarthy opposed the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program that bailed out
failing banks and automakers, as well as the economic-stimulus efforts a
year later.
Majority Leader
As
whip, McCarthy has been responsible for organizing the caucus into
support for the leadership’s agenda -- a frequently difficult task in a
caucus beset by divisions
that often pit the Tea Party movement against traditional Republican
advocates of business.
Opposing
McCarthy for majority leader is Idaho Republican Raul Labrador, who’s
aligned with the Tea Party movement and opposed Boehner’s re-election as
House speaker in
2013. Labrador has called for “new leadership, fresh ideas and a
different approach.”
“It’s important that we resolve this issue in a fair amount of time,” Boehner said last week.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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