Cantor, Powell face off in spirited debate.
(Richmond Time-Dispatch. See comments.)
Powell charged that Cantor wants to "wait yet another year to do what we've got to do."
He charged that Cantor is "a person who is dysfunctional, a person who will not cooperate, (who) will not sit down with the oppposing party."
He added that "voting for a tax cut in the middle of two wars is simply fiscally irresponsible," and that seeking to make the tax cuts permanent "is economic insanity."
Asked what compromises the parties should make, Powell said Congress must get control over the budget by taking "a scalpel" to spending. "The defense budget is bloated," the retired colonel added.
Cantor said the potential defense cuts through the process known as sequestration would take the U.S. to a point where it would have to reconsider whether it would be a global power.
"The reason why the sequester is in place" is because the president would not go along with spending cuts, Cantor said. He said looming deep defense cuts must be averted, but the answer is not new taxes.
"It is time for all of us to sit down and talk," Cantor said, noting that House Republicans have put forward solutions "that don't aggravate a bad economy."
Powell criticized Cantor for blaming the president for the so-called fiscal cliff. He said Republicans in Congress created the crisis.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/oct/01/11/cantor-powell-debate-tonight-richmond-ar-2248024/
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