Former U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor wouldn’t be surprised to see yet another government shutdown when the current continuing resolution to fund the government expires on Feb. 8.
The former Republican Virginia congressman, who currently works as vice chairman at investment bank Moelis & Company, told Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer during a conversation on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that so little had been accomplished in the negotiations to re-open the government that he saw little hope for a long-term deal.
“The irony of all of this is we may very well be exactly in the same position 10 days from now because so little was resolved in the passage of the continuing resolution,” Cantor said.
He suspects that Sen. Chuck Schumer was attempting to leverage the shutdown in exchange for a change in the “status quo” of immigration policy.
Conversely, Cantor had nothing but praise for President Donald Trump, whose accomplishments as president he described as “pretty extraordinary.”
Despite some of the president’s more fiery exchanges on Twitter, he’s been “terrific” in Cantor’s eyes.
“I think if you separate that from what he’s done– what he’s done has been pretty extraordinary,” he said.
Specifically, Cantor pointed to the tax reform bill Trump signed earlier this year that has already received a very warm reception from business leaders around the nation.
“You look at what the impact of that is going to be, it’s going to be terrific,” Cantor said. “And you listen to some of the conversation here in Davos– I’m not sure yet whether the global business community understands the power and the engine that that tax cut is going to provide to the American businesses and American competitiveness globally.”
Asked whether he’s thinking about getting back into politics, the former seven-term congressman gave a very political answer.
“You never say never,” Cantor replied.
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Dion Rabouin is a markets reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter: @DionRabouin.
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