caller: i worked for eric cantor we were negotiating 2011. and that was with vice president biden. we actually spent we together. three days a week with the leaders of the house and senate and the vice president trying to find areas of common agreement. and we talked about some of the same things that they are talking about today. host: kevin mccarthy part of that leadership team back then. what is your assessment of how he is handling the discussions right now being one of the key voices in the room sitting down with the president last week? guest: i think he is doing all the things he needs to do. to unify the republicans to come up with a position. there seems to be a lot of skepticism in the town that the house republicans need to come together and pass a bill. they came together and passed a bill. they understandable required negotiation at this point. they asked to get back with the president and that finally happen. he has done a good job of narrowing the scope of issues so that we can redefine bipartisan compromise. host: what is the bipartisan compromise? guest: there is t

the then vice president biden and my old boss eric cantor were meeting three days a week for multiple hours for almost five weeks straight. so the communication that had been established, the idea that while we knew we might run up right to the deadline, which we did, but that both sides knew where the deadline was, agreed that default wasn't an option, and knew that we were working together to make sure that we hit the mark and didn't miss the deadline. today what i'm worried about is talks just started, they have stopped and started. we're now down to ten days. you know what, if there are objections on each side, it could take ten days for congress to process it. i'm worried that one side or the other miscounts the days or miscounts the level of support that we have and that we stumble into a default just because this process didn't start soon enough. >> it is a very scary thought. neil, thank you so much for being with us today. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> jim. >> >>. >>> coming up, has bakhmut finally fallen? mercenaries claim they have taken the city. >>> accuse

eric cantor, the number-two-ranking republican in the power structure, is gone.imagine the shock when not only does eric cantor lose but he loses by 11 points to a guy no one had ever heard of before, dave brat. he's this conservative who basically ran against the republican party. 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. things didn't quite work out for me as i had thought in 2014 in my primary. there was a disdain for people who were in leadership positions in government. obviously, i was the leader at the time and by definition you were the problem. for conservatives across the country, they've been frustrated for a long time. american people are looking again for big ideas. they want leadership. it was almost as if i was a tip of the spear in terms of the populace, and it evolved from the tea party movement into the maga movement. and if you recall, at 2014, elections resulted in the republicans winning the senate in a big way. i do think it was another

thank you. >> and coming up, eric cantor will join us to tell us what's at stake in washington and on it cool at night. you trying to ice me out of the bed? baby, only on game nights. you know you are retired right? am i? ya! save 50% on the sleep number limited edition smart bed. plus, free home delivery when you add an adjustable base. only at sleep number. >>> good morning it's the final day of may. that's breaking news in case you were wondering the nasdaq way out in front of the other major averages in month thanks in large part to nvidia congress inching closer to passing a debt limit increase. we'll bring you the latest and talk about what it means for the markets with former house majority leader eric cantor and peter orszag and nevada tries betting is it on the dealt ceiling can you bet on a successful debt ceiling? there's nothing there. it wasn't working there yesterday. final hour of "squawk box" begins right now. >>> good morning, everybody. and welcome back to "squawk box" right here on cnbc we're live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick. >> yes,

together paul, eric cantor and i created something called the young guns program.fended fiscal responsibility and economic opportunity we made a pledge to america explaining we would govern differently. we were fortunate capture 63 seats that year. i saw paul not only as a policy wonk but a selfless leader who exemplified teddy roosevelt's man, who shows himself in a worthy cause in. a gallery of speakers, paul's portrait will represent his many accomplishments but i want you to remember this. a portrait lasts a long time, but a legacy of change lasts far longer. that's what paul achieved. his legacy of change is all around us. we are so grateful for your service, for your passion, for your decency and for your principles. speaking as a clear friend, there's only one thing i've ever seen him change. his hair got a little longer. his smile got a little wider because he got more time with his family. and i think america, i know, is a lot better for your service. thank you for that. [applause] now the time for the reason we're all here. i want to invite paul and his f

and biden was the lead figure in that for many months, negotiating with eric cantor in the number twot that process ultimately proves so scarring as the negotiations fell apart weeks before hitting the deadline with the u.s. debt being downgraded. they were convinced would never do that again. and the fact that biden is taking this hard line is so striking. the next time republicans tried in 2013, harry reid was so worried that biden want to make a deal with mitch mcconnell that he demanded they keep biden on the sidelines. in fact, obama never did negotiate with them again after 2011. he refused to tie the debt ceiling to any budget negotiation. ultimately they agreed to raise the debt ceiling. now will they do that again? it's a small majority. mccarthy is weaker than boehner. it's a house majority further to the right. i think biden very clearly came out of that saying you cannot link these two. he is equally clear he is willing to negotiate on the budget itself. you can see sort of the parameters of a potential deal with permitting reform, some domestic discretionary caps and taki

. >> doug your former boss eric cantor from the commonwealth of virginia dealt with the ceiling debtations in 2011 with obama and biden. we are nearing the deadline. >> yes. >> do you think they'll find a compromise? >> well i hope so. one of the people that he dealt with directly was this vice president who was named joe biden. so history repeats itself. but what we see in washington so often when we deal with situations like this is the answers no, no, no. hey, there's progress. no. now we have a framework. no. then we get to yes. ultimately we see two things. one, nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to and as john mccain famously said it is darkest before it gets totally black but also as we've gotten somewhat less pessimistic which is not to say more optimistic there is a sense that this isn't going to happen because it has never happened before. if the last five years, ten years have taught us anything, it is don't think something is not going to happen because it is inevitable or it is unprecedented. the unprecedented happens in washington a lot now. >> the biden pe

. >> eric cantor from the commonwealth of virginia he debt with the debt ceiling negotiations in 2011e're nearing the deadline. >> yeah. >> do you think they're going to find a compromise? >> i hope so, and one the people -- persons, excuse me, the vice president that was named joe biden. history repeats itself, but what we see in washington so often when we deal with situations like this is the answer is no, no, no, hey, there's progress, but no. now we have a framework and then we get to yes and ultimately when we see are two things. one, nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to and as john mccain famously said, it's darkest before it gets totally plaque and it's also, as we've gotten more pessimistic that there's a sense that this isn't going to happen because it's never happened before, and if the last five years, ten years have taught us anything, is don't think something is going to happen because it's inevitable and the unprecedented happens in washington right now. so the biden people are engaging. there was a time a few weeks ago when their posture was no, we're not

caller: i worked for eric cantor we were negotiating 2011. and that was with vice president biden.actually spent we together. three days a week with the leaders of the house and senate and the vice president trying to find areas of common agreement. and we talked about some of the same things that they are talking about today. host: kevin mccarthy part of that leadership team back then. what is your assessment of how he is handling the discussions right now being one of the key voices in the room sitting down with the president last week? guest: i think he is doing all the things he needs to do. to unify the republicans to come up with a position. there seems to be a lot of skepticism in the town that the house republicans need to come together and pass a bill. they came together and passed a bill. they understandable required negotiation at this point. they asked to get back with the president and that finally happen. he has done a good job of narrowing the scope of issues so that we can redefine bipartisan compromise. host: what is the bipartisan compromise? guest: there is three

eric cantor, who was the majority leader in the house at the time, speaker boehner was speaker, kevin mccarthy walked out of the talks largely because he was afraid he was going to be fingered by his house republican colleagues for having agreed to talk about revenues. imagine that. you care about the deficit, but you won't talk about any ways to raise even a penny of revenue from very wealthy people. and so that sort of exposed the whole charade at the time. and so now -- now joe biden is president of the united states. i'm sure he's thinking about those days when he served as the head of that budget group. and i'm sure so he's thinking back to the fact -- and i'm sure he's thinking back to the fact that when our republican colleagues came to the table and said they cared about deficit reduction and all nodded their headed and yeah after we talk about cuts, we're going to talk about revenues, and then walked out of of the room when that moment tame, that that just shows that what we're dealing with is not a commitment to deal with the deficit and debt. what we're talking about is a p