House GOP Whip Taps the Web to Trim Spending

Much has been made of President Obama’s use of the Web during the campaign and the innumerable online initiatives his administration has launched in its brief time in office.

Now his political opponents are getting in on the act. Eric Cantor, the House minority whip, has launched an online hub where he’s asking the public to vote on for the programs they’d most like to see cut out of the federal budget. Cantor says he’ll announce the winner (if that’s the right term!) next week and then House Republicans will seek an up-or-down vote on whether to cut off funding for the program. He plans to repeat the process each week going forward.

All this comes in the run-up to the mid-term elections as the GOP pursues a twin strategy of promoting fiscal responsibility and painting the Democratic majority as out of touch with the will of the general public, Datamation reports.

Frustrated with what they describe as wasteful government spending at a time of sizable budget shortfalls, GOP lawmakers are taking to the Internet to drum up popular opposition to programs they’d like to see stripped out of the federal budget.

Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) on Wednesday launched YouCut, an online hub where visitors can cast votes for any of five programs they’d like to see eliminated.

“Our national debt is simply unsustainable,” Cantor said in a video describing the new initiative. “Washington has a spending problem, and both Democrats and Republicans bear some responsibility.”

Read the full story at Datamation:


GOP Launches Web-Wide Push to Curb Spending With YouCut