On Monday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) debated with his Democratic opponent, veteran Wayne Powell.Ai??At one point, Cantor tried to turn the tables on Powell by snidely referring to public financing of campaigns as a “government welfare program for politicians”:

CANTOR: You say on your website that if you are elected that on your first day in Congress you will introduce legislation to make campaigns publicly funded. So your first act in Congress would be to increase the deficit and take money from other important programs or to raise taxes to pay for political campaigns. Don’t we have more pressing issues than to create a government welfare program for politicians?

But Powell deftly parried Cantor’s jab by pointing out that the Majority Leader gets the vast majority of his campaign funding from powerful corporations:

POWELL: That’s a great question. [laughter from audience.] Well actually I don’t think that public financing of campaigns is a great idea, but let me tell you something, based on the corporate welfare that you’re receiving in order to run your campaigns, it’s gotta be better than that. At least it comes from the people, and not from the corporations! [applause] You’re either number 1, 2, or 3 in receiving the most money from the pharmaceutical industry, the investment industry, the real estate industry, I mean thank God for the first amendment, thank God for the disclosure that we have. It is almost obscene, the millions of dollars that you’ve earned. Does anyone in this room think these corporations give Mr. Cantor a million dollars or more just because he’s a nice guy? […] They do that because they want him to vote the way they want him to vote. […] You’ve got a person that supports the very barbarians, the very parasites who caused this meltdown in this country in 2008! […] He stripped the STOCK Act of the intelligence provision. […] Even Chuck Grassley from his own party said he’s carrying the water for Wall Street. That has to stop!

Watch it:

Powell’s rebuke of Cantor was powerful and right on the facts. Just to refresh your memory, Cantor did indeed play a role in watering down the STOCK Act, and that’s why the bill failed to include a provision that would require “political intelligence consultants” to disclose their activities just like registered lobbyists do. And, in bowing to his paymasters, Cantor famously promised oil speculators to block financial regulations.

More Democrats should stand up to Corporate Republicans and call them out in the way that Powell did. Help us pass public financing. Click here to join PCCC’s Take Back Democracy campaign and help kick Big Money out of our politics.