The Leader's Ledger

Pro-Growth: Cantor, McCarthy and Ryan Talk Economic Growth, Burdensome Regulations At Facebook

GOP Leaders Discuss Entrepreneurship and Innovation In Palo Alto. McCarthy, R-Calif., agreed that in order to spur job creation, “Congress should look at what creates jobs” and remove barriers that stand in the way of companies emerging in the private sector. “Congress should step back and see how did Facebook start? It started in a dorm. How did Apple start? In a garage. How did Google start? In a garage,” McCarthy said. “I’d focus on what’s made America great: entrepreneurship, innovation.” ABC News

• Cantor, McCarthy and Ryan Blast Burdensome Regulations At Facebook Live Town Hall. Three top Republican lawmakers used an appearance at the social media giant Facebook on Monday to push for eliminating regulations that hinder the private sector. Republicans’ push to cut federal spending and regulations is part of their effort to create “a future that holds a space for a lot more Facebooks,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia said Monday in an interview held at the company’s Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters. For instance, regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency can hinder the ability of small businesses to stay afloat, Cantor said in the hour-long appearance with House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. The Wall Street Journal

Local Coverage: House Republicans Continue To Lay Out An Optimistic Vision Of The Future. ... this forum kicked off just a couple hours after Obama wrapped up his quick tour through the Bay Area. The congressional trio laughed a bit at the timing of his visit and their forum. "I think he's actually following us around," said Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Virginia. But Cantor did respond to some of the president's tough words about the Republican party. "The president if he want' to go ahead and continue to point blame and assess sort of where we are, you know we're here to talk about an optimistic vision of the future," said Cantor. KGO-TV

• House GOP Leaders Discuss How Social Media Has Changed Communication & Constituent Outreach. The lawmakers said communicating through Facebook, Twitter and other websites allows them to bypass the mainstream media and discuss the issues that they believe really matter. Social media also allows constituents to more quickly communicate their thoughts and concerns to their representatives, they said. Ryan said that when he first came to Congress in 1999, 90 percent of his communication with constituents was paper and 10 percent was electronic. He said that statistic is reversed today and that constituent communication is up tenfold. Cantor pointed to the YouCut website as an example of Republicans using a social media tool to interact with the public. The website allows users to vote for which federal programs they would eliminate. The Hill

Pro-Growth (2): Another CEO From A Major U.S. Company Says Tax Reform Is Needed To Make The U.S. Competitive

Coke CEO: The U.S. Tax Burdens Are Creating Uncertainty, Hurting Investment. However, Mr Kent said that US tax burdens and political polarisation were creating uncertainty for businesses and hurting investment. “I believe the US owes itself to create a 21st century tax policy for individuals as well as businesses,” he said. Mr Kent, speaking on the sidelines of the Clinton Global Initiative conference, hit out specifically at US provisions that tax companies for repatriating cash earned overseas. Coke does not disclose how much cash it holds overseas. “If you talk about an American company doing business in the world today with its Chinese, Russian, European or Japanese counterparts, of course we’re disadvantaged,” Mr Kent said. “A Chinese or Swiss company can do whatever its wants with those funds [earned overseas]. When we want to bring them back, we are faced with a very large tax burden.” The Financial Times

• Chairman Ryan: Tax Reform Will Make The U.S. More Competitive Internationally, Is The Key To Economic Growth. Ryan also discussed fundamentally reforming both entitlements and taxes in order to get businesses hiring again. “Let’s clear out all the clunk. Let’s get all the junk — all the loopholes out so we can lower everybody’s tax rates,” Ryan said. “Stop picking winners and losers in Washington and get us to a more globally-competitive system. … We think that fundamental tax reform — fair, simple, internationally competitive — is a key secret to economic growth.” ABC News

State Of Play: Harry Reid Refuses To Offset Spending, Reduces Disaster Relief

Senator Reid’s Theatrics Underscore Two Long Held Democrat Positions: Putting Politics Before People and Refusing To Offset Spending. On Friday the Democratic-controlled Senate rejected the House’s measure to fund FEMA. The Hill reported on Friday: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), meanwhile, says the burden of passage now falls to Reid. “We’re intending that the money gets to FEMA and to disaster victims as they need it,” Cantor said after the vote. “Harry Reid’s political ploy is not going to work.” If Senate Democrats kill the House bill, “then I guess Harry Reid will have to bear the burden of denying disaster ... victims the money that they need,” Cantor charged. Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) remarkably found that his self-created crisis wasn’t a crisis at all. It seems he didn’t want to bear the burden of denying disaster-relief victims their money after all. ... Reid’s theatrics only underscores that most of what the Democrats say we must have amounts either to a political ploy or a refusal to look at meaningful spending cuts. In this case, it was both. The Washington Post

Senate Democrats Reduce Disaster Relief, Protect Corporate Subsidies. The Senate passed a measure, 79-12, that would fund the government through Nov. 18 and includes $2.6 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief for fiscal 2012. The Senate separately passed a short-term CR through Oct. 4 by voice vote to give the House time to consider the longer bill. ... Passage of the measure came after the Senate rejected a bid by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that would have provided $3.6 billion for FEMA, including $1 billion in emergency funding for fiscal 2011, and had none of the offsets included in a House CR passed last week. ... The House CR also includes a $100 million cut to a DOE program that provided more than $500 million in loans to Solyndra, a California-based solar panel maker that is now bankrupt and under investigation. Republicans have accused the White House of improperly directing preferential treatment to the firm. The two cuts together translate to a $1.1 billion offset. Roll Call

• Dayspring: "It's surprising that just days after claiming that recent natural disasters required up to $7 billion in immediate funding, Harry Reid and Senate Democrats would now rather reduce funding for disaster aid by $1 billion rather than reduce corporate subsidies for companies like Solyndra. It's regrettable that the priorities of Senate Democrats are so backward, and it has left very few options." Politico’s Huddle

The Road Ahead: Why Aren’t House Democrats Lining Up Behind The President’s Jobs Bill?

0 Cosponsors: House Democrats Don’t Want To Touch The President’s Jobs Bill. Republican Rep. James Lankford of Oklahoma told The Daily Caller on Friday that no House Democrat wants to put his or her name behind President Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan, a necessary step before the legislation can be introduced for consideration. ... “The focus right now from him [Obama] is ‘pass my whole bill, pass my whole bill,’ [and] some of the struggle with that is no Democrat in the House has even taken his bill and filed it yet. So we can’t even pass the bill because no one wants to put their name on it and say, ‘this is my bill’ and file it in the House,” said Lankford in a September 23 interview at the U.S. Capitol. The Daily Caller

• Rep Lankford: Spending Another Half A Trillion Dollars Is Not Going To Solve The Problem. TheDC asked Lankford, a member of the Budget, Transportation & Infrastructure, and Oversight & Government Reform committees, if he thought Obama’s newest plan would lower the unemployment rate. “I do not and I’ll tell you, I’m very glad we’re talking about it as the President, the House and the Senate. We need to be focused on the economic issues, but if a trillion dollars did not solve the economic issues two years ago, throwing a half a trillion dollars at it now is not going to solve the economic issues. It’s the same stuff. It’s the same type of plan.” The Daily Caller

Experts Say President Obama’s Jobs Bill Won’t Get Americans Back To Work Right Away. President Barack Obama hasn’t yet used the term “shovel ready” in his latest jobs pitch, but he faces a familiar problem: Infrastructure experts doubt that billions in emergency spending will be the quick jobs fix the president is promising. “Unfortunately, there aren’t many jobs ready to go at the snap of a finger,” said William Ibbs, a professor of civil engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, who also consults on major construction projects. ... experts are skeptical that projects would come fast enough. A tremendous amount of money and time is needed to get a project through a detailed design process, permitting, environmental hurdles, public hearings and land acquisition. “As a rule of thumb, you’re looking at three years for a project, really going from the time the federal government says we have the money and want to spend it,” Ibbs said. But that’s for the easiest, simplest projects, such as building a road through an uninhabited piece of land. “The politicians really don’t understand how cumbersome the process is these days,” Ibbs said. “Environmental permitting, especially on road projects can take years. You’re hiring attorneys, not really shoveling a lot of dirt.” Politico

Keeping Tabs

President Obama Was Directly Warned About The Risks Posed By Solyndra Loan. Long before the politically connected California solar firm Solyndra went bankrupt, President Obama was warned by his top economic advisors about the financial and political risks of the Energy Department loan guarantee program that boosted the company's rapid ascent. At a White House meeting in late October, Lawrence H. Summers, then director of the National Economic Council, and Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, expressed concerns that the selection process for federal loan guarantees wasn't rigorous enough and raised the risk that funds could be going to the wrong companies, including ones that didn't need the help. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, also at the meeting, had a different view. The Los Angeles Times

Off The Beaten Path

New Study Says The DC Area Has The Most Traffic Congestion In The Nation – The Washington Post

ICYMI – Leader Cantor Loves Puppies – The Daily Caller