Cantor balks at omitting EPA riders from spending deal

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) signaled Tuesday that House Republicans aren’t ready to bow to Democratic demands that any final spending deal omit provisions that would block funding for Environmental Protection Agency climate change rules and other policies.

The House GOP’s fiscal year 2011 spending plan would stop EPA from implementing greenhouse gas permitting rules through September, and thwart other pollution rules such as air toxin standards for cement kilns.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Friday ruled out accepting any “riders” in a final spending deal that would thwart EPA rules. The White House is also opposed. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a top strategist for Senate Democrats, has also said such measures are not acceptable.

But Cantor suggested that a deal without EPA provisions would be difficult to steer through the GOP-controlled House.
 
“I have a lot of difficulty accepting that myself or, I think, getting the acceptance of our members,” Cantor told reporters in a briefing.

Cantor’s comment is another sign of the political chasm between the parties as the clock ticks down toward a partial government shutdown after April 8, when the current stopgap spending plan expires.

—Russell Berman contributed.