CANTOR: MANY SENATORS 'REGRET' VOTING FOR AMNESTY

In a House floor debate on Friday where he squared off against House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) said that “many” U.S. Senators who voted for the Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill now “regret” having done so.

“Certainly there are differences on how to go about doing that, but we remain committed, as does the chairman, in trying to move in a step-by-step manner, to address the various issues involved with immigration reform, but not to do it the way the Senate did, because as we've seen, many of those who actually voted for the senate bill in the other body have now said they regret that vote or they perhaps would do something differently,” Cantor said on the House floor.

Cantor did not specify who specifically he meant. Fourteen Senate Republicans—including each of the four Republican members of the Gang of Eight—joined all Senate Democrats in supporting the over one thousand-page bill. 

That number of Republicans who Cantor is likely referring to at least includes Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the lead GOP sponsor of the Senate bill who effectively unendorsed it in an exclusive Breitbart News story by publicly opposing conference committee between the House and any Senate bills. All of House GOP leadership except for House Budget Committee Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) joined Rubio’s disavowing of the Senate bill and any efforts to save it in a conference this week. Ryan is on record as supportive of efforts to save the Senate bill via conference and has not walked them back.

None of the other 14 Republicans who voted for the amnesty bill—Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Dean Heller (R-NV), John Hoeven (R-ND), Bob Corker (R-TN), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), or Susan Collins (R-ME), or now former Sen. Jeff Chiesa (R-NJ), who since been replaced by now Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) after the state’s special election—have publicly expressed regret over voting for the bill.

Via: Breitbart

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Hoyer's Plan for Fixing Obamacare Website: 'Give Them a Little Money'

(CNSNews.com) -- House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the way for Congress to help fix the problem-plagued Obamacare website is to give the administration "a little money."

At a Capitol Hill press conference on Tuesday, a reporter said “the website is not working,” and then asked Hoyer, “Are you confident, though, the White House is taking the steps necessary? Is there anything you in Congress can do to help the White House take the steps?”

Hoyer said, “Give them a little money. We've been pretty much focused in the House of Representatives on undermining the implementation and the Affordable Care Act in every which way they [Republicans]  possibly could. Now, I don’t think that’s the reason, however. I don’t know that. If  it is, it is. But I don’t know that to be the case.”

The reporter, in reference to the website, then asked, “You don’t blame lack of money for this?”  Hoyer said, “I don’t know. It’s not that I don’t blame, it’s – if I know that, I’ll blame it. I don’t know it at this point in time, Dave, so I’m not going to attribute it to that.”

Via: CNS News

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Steny Hoyer: Navy Yard Shooting Will Renew Gun Control Debate

WASHINGTON -- House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on Tuesday that he expects the tragic shooting at the Navy Yard will renew the debate around gun control, although he was pessimistic about prospects for passing new restrictions.

"I'm sure that it will renew the discussions about access to weapons that can be used to kill a lot of people quickly," he said at a breakfast discussion hosted by Politico's Morning Money.

On Monday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) -- one of Congress' strongest gun control advocates -- put out a statement calling for just that.

"When will enough be enough? Congress must stop shirking its responsibility and resume a thoughtful debate on gun violence in this country," she said. "We must do more to stop this endless loss of life."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, however, said it was "inappropriate" to talk about the issue at this point.

"In almost every one of these instances [of mass shootings], we've seen the perpetrators be people who individuals thought were unstable," said Hoyer on Tuesday. "In this case, apparently this guy was prone to violence. He had apparently shot the tires out of a neighbor's vehicle. He'd shot through the ceiling of another neighbor. He was given a general discharge from the Navy. So there was no doubt that this was somebody who had a record of instability and certainly should have been, I think, subject to closer scrutiny, particularly in access to the facilities at the Navy Yard."

Additionally, the AP reported that Alexis had been suffering from various mental illnesses and "had been hearing voices in his head."

Via: Huffington Post

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