CNBC Interview - Transcript
Interview
CNBC Interview - Transcript
CNBC INTERVIEW WITH REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA)
SUBJECT: BUDGET INTERVIEWERS: BILL GRIFFETH, DENNIS KNEALE, SUE HERERA, MICHELLE CARUSO-CABRERA
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MR. GRIFFETH: We want to look ahead though right now to the next hearing on Capitol Hill that is scheduled to get underway in about 20 minutes, it will be the House Ways and Means Committee hearing testimony from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and we're joined now by one of the ranking members of that committee. We welcome back Eric Cantor who is the Minority Whip in the House.
Congressman Cantor, always good to see you, sir, welcome back.
REP. CANTOR: Good to be back.
MR. GRIFFETH: What's your goal in this hearing today? What do you want to hear from Secretary Geithner?
REP. CANTOR: Well, I think what we want to hear is what the American people want to hear; it's what the markets want to hear. They want to hear a coherent plan that focuses on getting this country back on economic growth, I mean, that seems to be, I believe, why there's such a lack of confidence on the part of the investing public, on the part of the families out there across this country.
There is a lot of talk here in Washington with the Democrats' budget plan and with the stimulus plan that passed on fixing an awful lot of problems, but I think that where we are right now is very much of a lack of focus on job growth.
You can sit here and raise taxes on businesses and people that can't afford to pay them. We can spend money we don't have, but at the end of the day unless we put the confidence back into the markets, we're not going to see job growth. And so we've got to really focus on economic growth.
Government spending, at best, is redistribution of wealth. What we need to be focused on is what this country is made up, which is the investment of the private sector.
MS. CARUSO-CABRERA: And Representative Cantor, are you going to ask about the plan for toxic assets? That's what Wall Street keeps waiting for, this public-private partnership. What is it? How is it going to work?
REP. CANTOR: Well, there's no question, I mean, we need to know the details of how it's going to work and we need a certain plan with timelines as to how we're going to accomplish this, enough of the uncertainty. The same thing with the housing plan, this toxic asset plan, we need to know and understand how it's going to work. All the money that's been pumped into the markets over the last several weeks has still not done anything to restore the confidence and at the end of the day, it is the government's job at this point, not only to be the regulator of the markets to make sure there's an even playing field, but if we're going to have this type of intrusion, let's have it be effective so that the private sector can jump back in.
MS. HERERA: Congressman, do you get the idea or how do you feel about some of the criticisms that the Obama administration is tackling too many pressing problems at once? That they should put a laser-like focus on the financial system itself and leave health care and some of the other issues to the sidelines until we solve the financial crisis?
REP. CANTOR: I don't think there's anything better than trying to focus right now on job growth and where that comes from is a lack of confidence in the markets. We ought to be focusing on the financial sector. We ought to deal with job one first and I know that there are all these laudable goals to try and overhaul the health care system to provide a new energy future, but some of what has gone on in the budget, the Democrat budget that was proposed is counterproductive for the immediate, which is to try and reinstall confidence back into the financial sector.
MS. HERERA: Right.
REP. CANTOR: That is the nerve center and the utility of us all.
MR. KNEALE: Congressman, you know, the TALF facilities finally getting up and running and that's going to give government loans to the big investment to houses that want to buy consumer, auto and student loans. Why can't we just take TALF and extend it to the toxic, mortgage-backed securities that are now looming over the banks' future?
REP. CANTOR: Well, my sense is some of the hard work that needs to be done to assess the value of these assets and to flush the level and the number of these assets out into the public view has not been done. This Treasury Department and the Obama administration has got to get to work to do the heavy lifting so that we can get there.
MR. KNEALE: They won't be able to come up with that value unless they finally get this stuff out of the market and let it start trading in some way, you know, thousands of other bidders will be the ones who will ascertain a real value. Isn't that true?
REP. CANTOR: Right. And the question right now is the only things as you know that is moving in the markets is those that's commercial paper offerings and the other product that has a government backing. So we ought to take that model and say, look, let's use this as a catalyst to get private capital to jump back in.
Again, I think that these broad brush kind of prescriptions that we've seen up until now have not done the trick. Somebody at Treasury has got to start doing the real work to identify the assets, assess the value and let's get on with it.
MS. HERERA: Do you have confidence that Mr. Geithner is that person? Do you still have confidence in the Treasury Secretary?
REP. CANTOR: Well, listen, I mean, the Treasury Secretary is new on the job, but you know, we are in urgent times. So I'm hopeful that we're going to hear from him today on the Ways and Means Committee a very coherent plan with a timeline as to when we can expect these things to happen.
MS. HERERA: But my question is -- I mean, there's some talk in the market that the market has lost confidence in Mr. Geithner's ability to get us out of this.
Do you still have confidence in the Treasury Secretary?
REP. CANTOR: I think today's hearing is going to be a big deal. It'll be whether he can demonstrate that he's got the ideas and got the plan certain so that we signal we're in control of this situation.
MR. GRIFFETH: I think if there's a certainty it's that this being Ways and Means, the word tax will come up more often than any other topic today.
Haven't heard your view to this point of the president's budget proposal from last week and the fiscal issues in there as it pertains to cutting taxes for middle class Americans and raising taxes on wealthy Americans. Is that -- how will the Republicans respond to that in the Ways and Means Committee hearing?
REP. CANTOR: Well, listen, I don't think it's any question if we want to try and relieve the burden on middle class families, we'd be for that. But when you're starting to talk about taxing capital formation, when you're starting to raise cap gains, when you're starting to alter the nature of the income on carried interest, when you are doing all the things that the budget calls for, you are in contradiction to your goal of trying to get capital back into the system.
So we will take a strong stance against raising taxes on individuals and businesses that cannot afford to pay them right now.
MR. GRIFFETH: Always good to see you, Mr. Cantor. Thank you for joining us today.
REP. CANTOR: Thank you so much.
MR. GRIFFETH: Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia joining us on Capitol Hill before the Ways and Means Committee hearing gets underway, which he's a member and that's scheduled to begin in about 15 minutes.
END.
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