By: Jonathan Allen and Jake ShermanWashington Democrats have antagonized House Minority Whip Eric Cantor with the nickname "Dr. No." But the White House may have to amend that to "Dr. Know" after reversing course and calling for the very same federal pay freeze Cantor promoted earlier this year with his oft-ridiculed YouCut program.
In the second week of balloting for YouCut — an Web initiative that solicits public opinion on budget cuts— online voters picked freezing government salaries as the best possible federal savings.
At the time, Obama's fiscal 2011 budget envisioned a 1.4 percent cost of living adjustment for federal workers. But instead, the administration announced Monday that wages would be frozen at current levels for the next two years, producing a cost savings of $2 billion or likely less than two-tenths of one percent of the deficit for the year.
Cantor said he is "pleased that President Obama is ready to join our efforts.
"I am encouraged by President Obama's proposal to freeze non-military federal pay for the next two years. This past May, House Republicans, prompted by YouCut voters, offered the very same spending-cut proposal on the floor of the House," Cantor said in a statement to POLITICO.
In a broader sense, the president's embrace of a GOP policy that goes straight to the ideological divide between the parties could be an early sign of White House efforts to move toward the political center in advance of the 2012 election.
It certainly creates a fissure between the president and his own party's union contingent — though early response from Democratic officials in Congress carried a tone of disappointment rather than outrage.
"While I appreciate that the president reduced the length of his proposed pay freeze from three to two years, it would have produced significantly more savings had that sacrifice been shared between Federal civilian and military personnel—with a strong exception for the members of our military and civilian employees risking their lives on our behalf in Afghanistan, Iraq, and anywhere else they are serving in harm's way," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who represents many federal military and civilian workers in the Washington suburbs and Southern Maryland.
“Overall, we look forward to working with congress on ways to cut the deficit and lay the foundation for long term economic growth,” OMB spokesman Kenneth S. Baer said.
Also, one official noted that the administration's proposal was for two years, rather than the one proposed on YouCut earlier this year.
The common ground found by Obama and Cantor -- whether by coincidence or intention -- also speaks to the changing roles in their animus-filled relationship.
During a White House summit in 2009, Obama said he would "keep on talking to Eric Cantor. Someday, sooner or later, he's going to say, 'Boy, Obama had a good idea.'"
Now, it's Obama's team that is leaning toward Cantor's way of thinking -- at least on the federal pay freeze.
Democrats have treated Cantor's YouCut proposals as political gimmickry. During the program's first week, voters chose cutting $2.5 billion from a welfare fund, and Hoyer spokeswoman Katie Grant said that "Democrats want to work with Republicans on serious ways to bring down the deficit, not engage in gimmicks."
Cantor has consistently maintained that YouCut is a serious effort at cutting spending, not gimmickry. He even said he was once stopped in the Richmond airport being asked if he was the "guy with YouCut."
To be sure, some of the proposals have seemed quirky. They've tried to push selling excess federal property, which they claim will save $15 billion; prohibiting stimulus signage, cutting "tens of millions;" prohibiting sleeper car subsidies for Amtrak, saving $1.2 billion; and terminating tax-payer subsidies of National Public Radio.
Cantor's comments after the freeze was announced also seem to indicate that he is willing to work with the White House when they find their interests aligned.
"I hope that Democrats who are concerned about the debt and America's dire long-term financial health will join with House Republicans in embracing President Obama's proposal and other YouCuts going forward," Cantor said in the statement. "We have to work together if we want to transform the culture of spending in Washington into one of savings."
