Cantor Wants Across-the-Board Spending Cuts

WASHINGTON — Likely House Republican leader Eric Cantor says the GOP wants across-the-board spending cuts and a reduction in the federal payroll.

The Virginia congressman said on CNN Wednesday that all discretionary spending should be cut to 2008 levels, including defense. He said taxpayers could save $100 billion in the first year, but did not specify a percentage for the reductions. Republicans had made that across-the-board cut a part of their campaign argument earlier this fall.

Cantor said the federal bureaucracy "has grown at a pace unseen, certainly, in the private sector. We've seen pay scales by federal employees grow nearly double in some cases to those market rates." Cantor also said the pay rates must be brought down to "a level which reflects the market place pay."