WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) today appeared on Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" radio program, for a discussion on foreign policy, health care, and other issues.

Highlights below:

On Health Care:

“The Baucus bill has been met with over 500 amendments, and people around Washington are asking, ‘who’s for the Baucus Bill other then Senator Baucus?’ …We hear a lot of discussion about co-ops, or triggers, or things like that. We have go to be careful of the design of any bill.  A government option is a government plan.  A government trigger is a government plan.  A government co-op will lead to a government plan.”

“...As we have seen with the public opinion polls, the American people reject Obamacare. They feel, and I think rightly so, that it will open a door to government take over of their health care.”

“No question when you tell individual and employers that you are going to have to pay if you don’t provide health insurance - what do you call that? It’s a penalty, it’s a tax.”

“Speaker Pelosi has already said that anything that comes out of the House will have a public option in it. I don’t think there is any Republican support for a public option in the House. I feel that people understand intuitively that if you put the government in charge of making the rules – and then say the government is going to compete under those rules – that’s a formula designed to force people in a single payer government system.”

On Afghanistan & Foreign Policy:

“Well the chips are down no question. Afghanistan and Central Asia are critical right now. I would go so far to say Central Asia is the Persian Gulf of the 21 Century and we have got to get it right. If we don’t exercise the judgment necessary to see the mission though, we risk chaos in the region. It is so important that we reject the politics and support the mission to ensure that that region does not become a launching pad for terrorist organizations to inflict damage on the U.S., our allies and our interests.”

“Clearly, I support the President’s initial wish, which was to give the troops and the commanders on the ground what they need to secure our interest in the region and globally and that’s not easy… Unfortunately, as you know the political left in this country do not want to hear such things."

“I think there is a sense right now that one cannot define the foreign policy of the Obama White House. What is the foreign policy of the Obama White House when it comes to Central Asia? What is the foreign policy when dealing with Russia? What it comes to dealing with Iran? Some would say its, ‘talk to anybody at anytime for any reason.’ It just doesn’t make sense."

On the Big Picture:

“I think the White House has to think long and hard right now about what they have to show for their first 9 months in office. The only thing that has come out is that spending bill that they call the ‘stimulus’ – a nearly 800 billion dollar program that has not resulted in producing the jobs that was the goal when it passed.”