>> when you see what's happen ing at the v.a., i think that the same kind of culture exists in other government agencies. not national transportation safety board, not n.i.h. there's a lack of accountability. i think they don't carry about waste, they don't care about efficiency. it's a sad thing when you read the various i.d. reports, agency after agency was with the same problem year after year. nothing gets fixed. just my own anecdotal experience dealing with government is it

seems to me the quality -- it's not just the quality of our politicians, which is declined, the quality of government employees and the bureaucracy that it's just -- we have incompetent government. i'm sure we have some great federal employees. that's not the norm. >> emmy award winning and investigative reporter lisa myers is leaving washington d.c. find out why on c-span "q&a." >> one day after his primary loss in virginia, house majority leader eric cantor officially announced he will be stepped down from his leadership role at the end of july. he was defeated by david brat.

>> good afternoon. first of all, i just want to talk a little bit about what happened last night and then going forward. you know, growing up in the jewish faith, i grew up, went to hebrew school, read a lot in the old testament and you learn a lot about individual setbacks. but you also read and you learned that each setback is an opportunity and that there's always optimism for the future. and while i may have had a -- suffered a personal setback last night, i couldn't be more optimistic about the future of this country. i'm honored that i've had the privilege to serve and represent the people of virginia's seventh district. people often lament what is wrong with this town, but i want to remind you of what's right. i've had the honor to serve with

so many very distinguished colleagues. these are the people who fly across the country every single week, trying to do what they can to help their constituents live a better life. and these are members on both sides of the aisle. i can tell you i have been more than honored to serve as a part of the republican conference and serve as their majority leader for the last several years. my colleagues and i are also admirably served by a tremendous group of staff who put in tireless hours with the same noble intentions of trying to help the constituents of ours live a better life. these staffers are the backbone of this institution and i'm proud to have gotten to know them and their families and actually call them parts of my family. i also like to recognize the sergeant at arms, the capitol police and in particular the dignitary protection division who i've come to know personally

and i've gotten to know their often unheralded services that really are second to none. and it's been an honor to be in their company. it's especially been a privilege to get to know so many thousands, tens of thousands of constituents, of neighbors who make up the community of the greater richmond area. richmond, virginia, is a special place that i've called home my entire life. and i know that some of you, my friends in the press corps, have joined me there recently. but i encourage everyone to make a visit soon. we house republicans have made some tremendous strides over the past few years. we fought to allow every child, regardless of their zip code, the ability to go to the school of their choice and to receive a quality education. we prioritized medical research and innovation and have led the way into an unprecedented era of

technology and its breakthrough. we forced a reduction of spending in washington in consecutive years for the first time since the korean war. and we fought to protect people from losing their insurance or facing higher health care costs due to obamacare. we passed bill after bill that would increase take-home pay and reduce costs for working middle class american families. some people think washington gets nothing done. well, there's a stack of bills sitting in the senate that shows house republicans do get things done. we get a lot done. and our priority is building an america that works for the middle class families who are struggling in this country. but there is more work to do. conservatives have solutions that can help alleviate the middle class squeeze and provide opportunity to all, regardless of their circumstance in life. i will continue to fight for each and every american who's

looking to better themselves and help their families by pursuing the american dream. while i will not be on the ballot in november, i will be a champion for conservatives across the nation who are dedicated to preserving liberty and providing opportunity. truly what divides republicans pails in comparison to what divides us as conservatives from the left and their democratic party. i hope that all republicans will put minor differences aside and help elect a republican house and senate so that we may all benefit from a proper check and balance that leaves our nation more secure, more prosperous and freer. the united states of america is the greatest gift to man kind. and i'm confident that our nation will overcome every struggle, exceed every challenge and share the message of freedom, prosperity and

happiness to all liberty-seeking people around the world for decades to come. now, while i intend to serve out my term as a member of congress in the seventh district of virginia, effective july 31, i will be stepping down as majority leader. it is with great humility that i do so, knowing the tremendous honor it has been to hold this position. and with that i'm delighted to take some questions. >> why did you lose last night and what can the party learn from your loss last night? >> i'm going to leave the political analysis to y'all. i know that my team worked incredibly, incredibly hard, they did a tremendous amount of work. i'm proud of their work, i'm grateful for what they did. and in the end the voters chose a different candidate. >> you're going to leave the

political analysis to others but you personally, i'm sure you've done some reflecting in the past 24 hours. do you think that maybe you spent too much time here with your job as leader, tend nothing to your rank and file and not tending to your constituents back home? >> i was in my district every week. so there's a balance between holding a leadership position and serving constituents at home. but never was there a day i did not put the constituents of the seventh district of virginia first and i will continue to do so. >> what message do you believe that this sends about the future of immigration reform? should it be stopped at this point or do you think it should go forward and would you -- what have you talked to speaker boehner about? >> first of all, what i would say again on the political piece of that, i'll let y'all do the anal sills. but i will say that my position on immigration has not changed. it didn't change from before the election, during the election or the way it is today. i have always said the system is broken and it needs reforms. i think it is much more desirable and doable if we did it one step at a time, working

towards where we have common ground and believe things in common. i don't believe in this my way or the highway approach that the president has laid out and i've continued to take that position. i've said that there's common ground at the border, there's common ground. i would like to see the issue of the kids addressed by those who didn't break any laws and come here unbeknownst to them. so again, i've always said that there should be and is common ground, if we'd just allow ourselves to work together. >> who do you want to succeed you and how divisive will the election be within your conference? >> i don't know who it is that will actually be running. i can tell you that if my dear friend and colleague kevin mccarthy does decide to run, i think he'd make an outstanding majority leader. and i will be backing him with my full support. >> a lot of focus has been on

the politic side but on the policy side people are wondering what this means for things like the export-import bank re-authorization. you touched on immigration and some other things that are going on. is this sort of the end of the legislating of this congress or do you think this congress can still get those things done? >> we've got obviously this month and next, we're very full on the floor with appropriations measures that my team and the committees are working on. we have got cftc authorization, we've got some energy bills that will speak to bringing down costs for americans who are facing the summer driving season. we've got a full set of bills. we've probably got another group of human trafficking bills to be done. the chairman of the house financial services committee i believe has announced a markup on a bill. we'll look to do that this summer. there's a lot of things in motion. so, yes, we will continue to work and hopefully the senate will reciprocate so that we can

get the work of the american people done. >> talk for a minute about, they say politics is local here, you lost your race, a lot of people are going to try to read broader things into this here. why shouldn't some republicans be scared as they move into their primaries, where you say you spent every week, some time, in your district, where they feel they have shored up their base and they get the challenge, why shouldn't be somebody running scared at this point after an unprecedented loss by the majority leader? >> i think that as you rightly suggest, all politics are local. and there was obviously a lot of attention that was cast on our race. but again i think that our members are in good position in their districts and again i'll leave the political analysis of what happens to y'all. >> democrats say you were too extreme. conservatives said you were too compromising. what advice do you have for your successor? >> maybe we had it right somewhere in the middle.

again, i think that this town should be about trying to strike common ground. i've always said it's better if we can agree to disagree but find areas which we can produce results and i've said this before, i've talked about my wife and i, almost how to married 25 years, and believe me we don't agree on everything. and we have managed to raise our family have a wonderful marriage, she's stood by me throughout this public office stuff and been a strong advocate for me and not always believing in everything that i believe in, but we managed to raise our family and do well. i don't think that's too unlike life, i don't think it's too unlike the legislative arena and i think more of that could probably be helpful. >> what do you think your loss says about the party's direction for 2016? some of your republican colleagues are already saying that it only emboldens the tea party to elect a more conservative, uncompromising republican candidate.

>> first of all, i'm going to leave the political analysis what have happened yesterday to y'all. i would say about the tea party, remember what --çó w hen the tea party first came about in 2009, i believe it was reaction to the over reach with the obama administration with the obamacare and dodd-frank and the country rose up and said enough is enough. i do believe what we have in common as republicans is a tremendous amount of commitment to a better and smaller government and greater opportunity and growth for everybody and the differences that we may have for slight and pail in comparison to differences we have with the left and those who impress

liberalisms. >> elections in june 19th, can you have -- [indiscernible] >> you have to speak to the speaker about the timing of the leadership elections. i will say that we've got a very busy floor period. i've announced ever since the beginning of the year, we've got a lot on the floor. my team has been heavily involved with the committees and drafting legislation and making sure that we can run the floor and be expeditious in legislation process. >> you don't want to be a political analysis. what about personal analysis? do you look in the mirror before you went to sleep and said, how did i let this happen? >> no, i really do believe that we did everything we could. i'm very proud of my team on the ground in richmond for all they did. there was a tremendous

outpouring of support on all sides. again, i just came up short and the voters elected another candidate. >> what's your next move? what do you think you'll be doing after you leave congress? >> that is probably between my wife and me. i will be looking to see how i can best serve, how i can be a part of what we've been about here with the agenda called an america that works. remember what its premise on. the notion that the conservative solution, personal responsibility, limited government, more liberty, can produce the results and solve so many of the problems that the american people have been facing in an obama economy under the obama administration. so thank you all very much.