Eric Cantor Speaks on Government Shutdown

With less than four weeks left to work at preventing a U.S. government shutdown House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said reforms to the system must be included in any deal between the White House and congressional Republicans to show the public that Washington can handle the county's finances, The Associated Press reported.

The Associated Press reported that Cantor acknowledged in an interview on NBC's Today show that special interest loopholes in the tax code are never good for growth. Cantos also said that it is not true that Republicans are blocking an agreement.

The borrowing authority of the government expires Aug. 2, the date by which Congress must raise the $14.3 trillion government debt ceiling.

Reuters has reported that both Democrats and Republicans want to pair an increase in the ceiling with steps to bring the trillion-dollar deficits under control. However, they are finding it hard to come to a compromise along these lines.

In early April, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders reached a last-minute budget preventing a government shutdown. Both Democrats and Republicans compromised to have lawmakers approve stopgap funding to keep federal agencies running until the budget agreement was formally enacted. That plan called for $39 billion in spending cuts.

That shutdown idled hundreds of thousands of workers and carried political risks for Obama and his fellow Democrats as well as opposition Republicans, who would be seen by voters as failing to make compromises.

Obama held a Twitter town hall on Wednesday allowing users to directly ask him questions.

President Obama also tweeted asking: In order to reduce the deficit what costs would you cut and what investments would you keep - bo.

Republicans also tried to direct message Obama during his first Twitter town hall and sent politically-charged questions critiquing handling of the economic recovery.