House Majority Leader Eric Cantor looked under the hoods of cars at the Northern Virginia Community College’s auto shop on Thursday – a fitting tour considering the miles he’s racking up promoting a new legislative agenda.

Since February, through speeches at the American Enterprise Institute, Harvard University and beyond, Cantor has outlined elements of the “Making Life Work” agenda, which places less emphasis on federal budget math and more on education, medical research and flexible work time.

“Over the next two years, our House majority will pursue an agenda that is based on a shared vision of creating the conditions of health, happiness and prosperity for more Americans and their families and to restrain Washington from interfering in those pursuits,” he said at AEI in early February.

It has been described as a softer message for the GOP. But Cantor, R-7th, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in February that while Republicans are still committed to fiscal discipline, they haven’t “completed the sentence, which is: We’re trying to do this to help people.”

Cantor visited the community college to promote the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act, which, among other things, would streamline federal job-training programs. On Friday, he gave a full-throated endorsement of school choice at a conservative confab.

“One of our priorities this year will be to move heaven and earth to fix our education system for the most vulnerable,” he said at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

He noted his recent visits to Louisiana to learn more about the education policies pursued by Gov. Bobby Jindal and to the Preparatory School of DC.

Cantor has cited stories of 7th District residents when calling for federal research dollars to be measured against their capacity to help patients, and for legislation allowing more flexibility with comp and flex time.

He also advocates for modernizing Medicare and giving states more flexibility with Medicaid, and has touched on immigration reform. It’s time, he has said, “to provide an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home.”

Asked after the NVCC event about the new agenda, Cantor said: “The whole essence of trying to get the budget to balance is to promote a growing economy.”

He said the GOP always sought to address problems at the federal level that can “negatively impact people.”

“There are so many millions of working families out there who just…you know they wake up and, I know, can’t believe how hard it is,” he said. “We’re just trying to make their life work again, make it easier for those who are unemployed to get back to work; that’s what the SKILLS Act is about.”

The SKILLS Act narrowly passed the House on Friday but the White House is opposed, saying that it would eliminate, or possible consolidate, targeted programs and freeze funding for several years.

Geoffrey Skelley, political analyst at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said he thinks Republicans are aiming to stick with the same principles, but deliver the message differently.

“(Cantor’s) focus on that message would indicate to me they’re trying to find a different way of presenting the Republican outlook and plan to people,” he said.

The new message also follows the November elections, when Republicans failed to regain the White House, with Cantor’s home state also once again backing President Barack Obama.

Jesse Ferguson, deputy executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said there’s “tremendous irony” to Cantor talking about making life work and then pushing forward a budget next week “that slashes education, turns Medicare into a voucher and makes life work better for corporate special interests and millionaires.”

The Problem in Washington is the Spending

Earlier this week Congressman Cantor issued the following statement about spending in Washington:

“President Obama is warning of the grave effects of the sequester he proposed in 2011. House Republicans agree this is not the best way to cut spending, which is why I sponsored and the House twice passed bills that responsibly replace the arbitrary, across-the-board cuts with common sense cuts and reforms that don’t threaten public safety, national security or our economy. During the past 11 months, neither President Obama nor the Democratic controlled Senate offered any serious alternative. Rather than offer serious spending cuts to replace the sequester, President Obama offers more of the same politics and argues for more tax revenue. This won’t help middle class families or grow our economy.”

By his inaction, the President is risking public safety and our national security. Congressman Cantor has offered several suggestions where cuts can be made.

We all know that there is plenty of waste in government. This year alone over $2 billion will be spent on free cell phones. Last year the federal government spent over $50 million to promote Obamacare and to pay public relations firms. And in 2010 our government maintained property that was underutilized, or in some cases, not used at all, costing the taxpayers $1.7 billion.

Also, there are several bipartisan initiatives the President could support that would reduce spending. We could save over $9 billion by reforming the Medicaid provider tax. We could eliminate the Public Health Slush Fund in Obamacare and save about $10 billion. And by requiring those receiving food stamps to prove their eligibility we could save around $26 billion.

Instead of working with Congress to reduce spending in a reasonable manner, the President would rather raise your taxes for the second time in just two months.

Congressman Cantor said, “So rather than calling for tax hikes, again, or cut back any needed government services, the President and Senate Democrats should get to work and embrace some or all of these sensible spending cuts and find common ground. Spending is clearly the problem in Washington.”

Time for the President and Senate Democrats to Act

Congressman Cantor said in his statement today, “I agree with the President, the cuts in the sequester are ‘not smart’ and ‘not fair.’ That is why I sponsored one of the two bills House Republicans passed last year to replace these cuts with bipartisan reforms that made more sense. For nearly a year, the President and Senate Democrats have chosen to accept these harmful effects rather than propose any spending cuts to avert the sequester, and help get our fiscal house in order. House Republicans have acted, and it’s time for the President and Senate Democrats to join us. It’s time to get off the campaign trail, and get to work. Show us what spending reductions you prefer, and let’s find some common ground.”

The ad is airing in the Richmond media market and throughout the 7th Congressional District on cable.

By Eric Cantor
U.S. News and World Report
July 26, 2012

Small businesses are caught in a riptide of red tape. The overwhelming onslaught of rules and regulations coming from Washington is making it nearly impossible to start or stay in business, let alone grow, succeed, and create jobs.

Since the president took office, his administration has had under review more than 400 regulations that cost the economy $100 million or more. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses are facing annual regulatory costs of up to $10,000 per employee.

Keeping up with cumbersome paperwork and compliance requirements cost entrepreneurs time and money, and that means less capital for hiring new employees. This is making it harder for our nation’s small businessmen and women, who we are counting on to sustain our local economies and create jobs.

Every extra rule, regulation, or requirement where the government imposes a cost on the economy disrupts and distracts small business owners from growing their business. The last thing the economy needs right now are more roadblocks. We need to cut through the red tape to create an environment of certainty to promote innovation and unleash economic growth.

The president of Virginia’s Valley Bank in Roanoke tells me that new rules and regulations are flooding community banks almost daily. “Community banks find themselves so internally-focused on compliance related activities that they cannot attend to the job of extending credit,” he says, adding that it is hurting hopes for a sustained economic recovery. We need community banks focused on growing our local economies not wading in an unnecessary pool of red tape.

The owner of a trucking company in Ashland, Virginia, in my district, says that constant regulatory changes by the Environmental Protection Agency have caused the prices for his operation to go up. These rising costs have made it more difficult to operate today and even harder to plan for future.

Excessive regulations aren’t only impacting small businessmen and women. Major manufacturers like Richmond, Va.-based MeadWestvaco are facing a barrage of regulations from the EPA. The company’s senior expert on environmental regulations testified before a congressional panel that, “The current wave of regulations is unsustainable. Living with such an uncertain regulatory environment not only costs current jobs, but also prevents new jobs from being created.”

Since day one, House Republicans have been focused on creating a better environment for job growth. The House voted this week on the Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act to begin to roll back unnecessary red tape, giving businesses of all sizes more certainty and opportunity to grow and create jobs.

To end the ongoing overreach, our legislation would freeze costly new regulations until national unemployment drops to 6 percent or lower. To ensure smarter regulations are implemented moving forward, we would require all agencies to perform thorough cost-benefit analyses of proposed regulations. The bill would also increase transparency for federal agencies that have been operating outside the purview of regulatory review, such as the National Labor Relations Board. Further, our bill would streamline the federal permitting process since energy and construction projects across the country are being delayed or stopped entirely due, in large part, to a broken permitting process.

If we are to grow our economy and get more people back to work, Washington must get out of the way. Federal regulation must become smarter and less harmful to our economy. We know small businesses are built because of the men and women who take risks, work hard, and invest capital in new ideas. At a time when millions of Americans are struggling to find jobs, we must make it easier for these small business owners to grow and expand. Reducing red tape will empower our small businesses to start hiring again, create more jobs, and ensure a thriving economy for the future.

Talking to people across Virginia, I am hearing the same message: They want to see a strong economy and job creation. While we’ve seen some signs that the economy is beginning to grow again, it’s not moving at the rate needed to get our friends and neighbors back to work. The only way to shift the economy into high gear is to help our small businesses grow.

Over the past two decades, small businesses have created 65 percent of new jobs in our country. During the economic downturn, these small businesses — the backbone of our economy — have taken a beating. Here in Virginia, growing small businesses generated more than 109,000 new jobs from 2005 to 2008. Unfortunately, from 2008 to 2009, more than 76,000 small business jobs were lost.

Faced with a barrage of red tape and higher taxes coming from Washington, our small businessmen and women are still struggling. Currently, cash-strapped small-business owners are facing a federal tax rate as high as 35 percent, on top of what they already pay in state and local taxes, which siphons away income that would otherwise be used to re-invest in their businesses.

Small-business growth is the key to our economic recovery. In order to create an environment conducive to long-term private-sector job growth, we shouldn’t be threatening to raise taxes on small-business people and entrepreneurs; we should be doing everything we can to help them succeed.

That is why, this week, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the Small Business Tax Cut Act to give every small business with fewer than 500 employees a 20 percent tax cut that goes straight to their bottom line.

While we pursue comprehensive tax reform that brings down rates, broadens the base and makes the tax code more competitive, this will help small businesses get back in the game right away. Immediately reducing the tax burden on small businessmen and women allows them to keep more of their hard-earned profits and gives them the freedom, flexibility and confidence to grow and expand their businesses.

The Small Business Tax Cut Act will help 22 million small businesses across the country, including hundreds of thousands in Virginia — no matter how they are organized or whether they pay taxes at the corporate or individual level. A third of those small businesses are owned by women and one-fifth are minority-owned small businesses. This 20 percent tax cut will free up resources so small-business owners can invest in new technology, hire additional workers, or provide a raise to a current employee — something so many employers haven’t been able to do.

Small businessmen and women are the real experts who know what it takes to bring jobs back to our communities. And I’ve heard from several area small-business owners about just how beneficial this tax cut will be to them.

Take Gary Glover, president of Richmond’s Puritan Cleaners, who says, “We’ve had to make tough decisions on how we spend our money and the direction that we take our business. Congressman Cantor’s 20 percent Small Business Tax Cut will help us immediately as we look to expand our business by possibly adding a new location or even rehiring employees that we were previously forced to lay off.”

One of the fastest-growing sectors of Virginia’s economy is our wine industry. The Heidig family, owners of Lake Anna Winery and Oak Hill Farm & Vineyard, tell me that the Small Business Tax Cut Act will give them the additional funds to purchase equipment, increase production and hire additional personnel to sell and promote their wines. They see this as a “win-win” for them as small business owners and improving the overall health of the economy. A win-win is exactly what we need to free up capital and drive small business job creation.

And Jay Smith, president of Cox Transportation Services in Ashland, adds, “The 20 percent across-the-board federal tax cut for small businesses is exactly what is needed to encourage business owners and investors to regain the confidence that the federal government is actually going to stand up for job creators and allow them and their businesses to flourish.”

Following the success of the bipartisan JOBS Act, which was signed into law earlier this month, Republicans and Democrats need to continue to work together to produce results to help spur job creation. By passing the Small Business Tax Cut Act, we can provide immediate tax relief and send a clear signal to Virginia’s small businessmen and women that Washington intends to make it easier to start up and run a business, grow their job base and boost the economy.

As millions of Americans held their nose on tax day and sent their money to Washington, the House and the Senate were also focused on taxes. The Senate couldn’t muster enough support Monday to consider the “Buffett rule,” a new minimum tax rule that seems to be President Barack Obama’s top fiscal priority — if not distraction. It wouldn’t create a single job or help a single business. It’s divisive, and not worthy of being a part of a serious national conversation.

The House is due to vote Thursday on Eric Cantor’s Small Business Tax Cut Act, designed to help small businessmen and businesswomen with fewer than 500 employees expand and hire workers. To measure its impact and value, we must take a macro view of where the economy stands with consideration of election-year politics.

Real economic growth has been pathetic during the Obama presidency. Last year, the economy grew just 1.7 percent. By comparison, the Reagan recovery was spectacular — growing at 4.5 percent in 1983, with nearly 3.5 million jobs.

In just one month, September 1983, the Reagan economy added more than a million jobs, nearly as many as the economy grew for all 2011.

To match the amount of jobs created in the fourth year of the Reagan presidency, 1984, Obama’s economy would have to create 370,000 jobs per month for the rest of the year. Americans shouldn’t accept any less.

What is holding back growth? For one, the current Tax Code is a massive roadblock. It stifles the American dream by restricting people with complexity and unnecessarily high tax rates. It prevents true innovation and business startups.

The code, coupled with the highest corporate tax rate among industrialized nations, penalizes businesses and plagues workers and other citizens. It holds back our small-business job engines.

There is a growing momentum in the nation to simplify the Tax Code. Even the president’s Simpson-Bowles commission recommended removing loopholes and reducing rates across the board. The best solution would be the flat tax, which has been adopted successfully by more than 20 countries.

But in Washington, the momentum is still lacking. One divide that only the election will solve is the issue of taxes. One side wants to penalize success through higher taxes, the other wants to restore the supply-side, incentive-based model of economic growth through simpler and lower taxes for all. When it comes to the choice of raising taxes or lowering them, there is no middle ground.

Real tax reform is absolutely necessary, and elected officials like House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) are working tirelessly to try to bridge the gap and make it happen. Even they concede, however, that in a divisive election year, comprehensive tax reform is not likely.

Why is this important? At the end of this year, there will be a convergence of events akin to an economic tsunami. The current tax rates are set to go up, the temporary payroll tax cut will expire, “Obamacare” taxes on capital are to kick in and the alternative minimum tax will most likely hammer tens of millions of middle-income Americans. These events could knock the economy into a tailspin.

In an election year, can anything be done in a fractured Washington to help prepare for what’s to come? While comprehensive changes are hard to reach now, incremental progress can be achieved.

Where can common ground be found? A good place to start is the shared belief that taxes are too high on small businesses and the recognition that they will get much higher at the end of this year. Which brings us to the 20 percent Small Business Tax Cut.

Under Cantor’s plan, small businesses could deduct 20 percent of their income from taxes and as much as 50 percent of their W-2 wages. In other words, whether set up as a corporation or one of the 75 percent of small businesses that operate as a pass-through, small businessmen and businesswomen can reap the benefits of the legislation. This can immediately free up funds for small businesses to retain and hire workers.

Cantor’s tax plan could ultimately create more than an average of 100,000 jobs per year, yield $112 billion more in gross domestic product and lead to a 2.24 percent increase in business capital, according the new Fiscal Associates study released Monday by the YG Network.

And what about workers? The legislation would help middle-class workers even more than business owners, according to that same study. They would receive more than two-thirds of the added private-sector benefits and the return to middle-class citizens would be $4.30 for every $1 of actual government revenue loss. One-third the firms that benefit from the Cantor plan are owned by women and one-fifth by minorities.

The president has spent much of his first three years pushing for massive government stimulus spending, tax hikes and now class warfare. He has pulled from the Keynesian playbook repeatedly — but hasn’t been able to produce a winning formula for real economic growth. Cantor’s plan signifies a return to the supply-side incentive model for growth. It lets millions of small businessmen and businesswomen keep more of their own money to invest, hire more workers and expand.

There is enough in this plan for both parties to be able to support.

This measure, however, should not be confused with the need for fundamental tax reform to help make the United States more competitive. While that effort continues, the economic tornado facing America in December moves closer.

Consider this a weather report. And until fundamental reform can be achieved, Congress and the president would be wise to take incremental precautionary measures like the Cantor plan to expand the economy and create jobs.

Steve Forbes is chairman of Forbes Media and author of “How Capitalism Will Save Us.”

Congressman Cantor said:

“This bill tries to make it a little easier for the small businessmen and women who want to seek investors, who want to build their business to retain and hire more people. It’s a straight up solutions oriented bill. I hope it represents the kind of bipartisan work that we can accomplish here in Washington over the next few months. We have a very difficult economic situation still. The President said today that he has always believed that it is the private sector that is the job generator in this country. I agree with him. I think most Americans agree with him.

“Because of that, we’re going to bring to the House floor the week after Tax Day our bill, the Small Business Tax Cut Act of 2012. This is the same line of thinking that the Jumpstart Our Business Startups bill is about; to help small businesses keep more of their own money so they can retain and hire more people.”