Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, the vice chairman of the Democrats’ Steering and Policy Committee, told The Hill that Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s withdrawal from budget negotiations will help the Democrats politically.
Cuellar thinks Cantor’s decision to remove himself from the talks creates the impression that Republicans aren’t interested in bipartisanship or negotiation on raising the debt ceiling. Cantor, the Virginia Republican, withdrew on Thursday, saying he wouldn’t participate in further negotiations unless increasing taxes was off the table. Democrats insist on ending tax breaks for corporations and raising taxes on wealthy Americans.
“Regardless of the progress that has been made, the tax issue must be resolved before discussions can continue,” Cantor said in a statement.
“It’s definitely a benefit to Democrats when the other side says, ‘It’s too tough to keep going,’ and they quit,” Cuellar said. “No matter if you don’t like the rules, you can’t just walk away.”
Meanwhile, Democrats had tough words for Cantor. “The Republican leadership needs to take a breath,” said Connecticut Democratic Rep. John Larson, “come back to the table, and work with us to find a solution.”
For now, the talks seem to be at a standstill. Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio is under pressure from his party not to accept any tax hikes, while Democrats have said they won’t support any proposal that only cuts spending without raising revenues.
(Obama Slow-Rolls GOP on Budget Talks)
On Monday, President Obama will enter the talks, meeting separately with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Obama’s decision may have had something to do with McConnell’s floor speech on Friday, where he asked: “Where in the world has President Obama been for the last month?”
The deadline to raise the debt ceiling before the U.S. defaults is August 2.