BLITZER: The president and the vice president met today with congressional leaders of both parties. One person in that meeting was the Republican congressman Eric Cantor. He's the House minority whip, the number two Republican in the House of Representatives.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), MINORITY WHIP: Wolf, good to be with you.

BLITZER: How did that meeting go?

CANTOR: Well, you know, look, I think it was a positive step to say that, look, we're at the end of the first 100 days of this administration. The bipartisan, bicameral leadership went to the White House, and we had a very frank discussion. We really did, Wolf. And we talked about sort of what to expect in the next five weeks in here Washington, and perhaps some of the progress that we can make together.

BLITZER: Is there going to be any cooperation on some of these fundamental economic-related issues? Because, as you know, not one member of the House on the Republican side voted with the president on the economic stimulus package.

CANTOR: Well, in fact, we had that very discussion, and the president and I talked about what happened and what broke down on the stimulus. And he knows as well as many that we do have a plan for getting jobs created again in this country. We did present a plan that we felt would create twice as many jobs at half the cost, but I think we agreed that perhaps because things broke down there, that maybe we should look for new ways of doing things.

BLITZER: Are there any new ways, do you think? Is there any opening where we can see Republicans in the House and Senate work together with the Democrats and the White House?

CANTOR: Well, you know, I really do see that, Wolf. There are two things.

BLITZER: Where? Give me an example.

CANTOR: Well, for example, the president started the week with a meeting of his cabinet, and he suggested to the cabinet secretaries that they find $100 million in savings so that we could perhaps see Washington begin to behave like most families and businesses are doing in tough times, which is to tighten the belt. So I asked the president to work with us.

We have plenty of ideas of how to cut waste in Washington and accomplish some meaningful spending, meaningful spending curtailment. And that's really what we've got to do. We've got to save some taxpayer dollars.

Beyond that, we had a lot of discussion at this meeting on health care. Obviously, this is the marquee on what the president has set out as his primary domestic agenda item. And, you know, it is such a big issue. It is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. This is an issue that affects all people.

BLITZER: Well, is there a middle ground on health care reform where you, Eric Cantor, you believe you could find that middle ground with the White House? CANTOR: Well, I do, Wolf, because I think that if we all step back a minute and think about the single working mom who is in a suburb in one of the American cities across this country, and if we think about what she has to worry about when she puts her kids to bed, and what she's thinking about at night, I bet we'd all come to the realization she's worried about losing her job because it's happening all around her. She's also worried if she loses her job she's going to lose her health care.

And we've got to address that issue. We've got to look at the issue of health care through the eyes of the working families in this country, and provide some solutions that will ensure that people in this country will be able to maintain their health care that they do have, and also maintain the ability to choose for themselves, to make sure that their kids can see their pediatricians that they want to see.

These are the kinds of things I think that all of us can agree on. And if we approach it from that level, I do think that we can produce some results.

BLITZER: In this most recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, by an almost 2-1 margin, 62 percent to 36 percent, they believe that the president is doing more than the GOP to try to reach some sort of cooperation with the other party.

Why does the American public think that the White House and the Democrats are more assertive in wanting to cooperate with you than the Republicans are?

CANTOR: Well, Wolf, I may lay some of the blame back on that -- on your colleagues in mainstream media. It's just not as appetizing, I guess, to cover the plans that we have and the attempts that we've made and we'll continue to make to reach out not only to the president and the White House, but to Speaker Pelosi, who, frankly, has been unwilling to bring a consensus-building group together to try and see a way to bring the agenda back from the extreme to the mainstream. But we're going to continue trying.

BLITZER: Give the president a grade for these first 100 days on domestic, economic issues, stabilizing the economy, trying to get people back to work, making sure the banks, the loans are secure. What grade would you give him so far?

CANTOR: Well, listen, I think the grade is directly related to the results. And they results, frankly, are not that great.

You see us at a monthly clip hemorrhaging 650,000 jobs. If you do the math, that works out to about 15 jobs a minute. That's 15 people losing their job every minute in this country. That means 15 families who now no longer know how they may make their mortgage payment or put food on the table.

BLITZER: But you remember last year, when President Bush was in office, what, almost five million jobs, going back to January of last year until now, have been lost. So the jobs haven't just been lost since President Obama took office.

CANTOR: Well, no question about it. But I do think the American people want to look forward.

And we've got to be able to work together. I mean, I think there are a few things that we've got to do. And priority one is turning the economy around.

So we've got to get the banking situation straight because capital markets are not functioning. Families and small businesses are unable to access credit. We've got to stave off the unemployment and make sure that we begin growing jobs again, and we've got to get the housing crisis turned around because, Wolf, we all know that the collapse in housing prices is at the core off what has gone wrong in our capital markets.

BLITZER: All right, Congressman. I hear maybe a C or a D. What grade am I hearing?

CANTOR: You know, Wolf, again, I think it's for the American people to grade all of us. And I think that they're looking at how we have worked to change the way Washington functions.

This president was elected on change and to bring about a new way of doing business. I don't think that that has translated to work on the ground here on Capitol Hill. We're going to continue to try and reach out to Speaker Pelosi in every way we possibly can so that we can forge solutions for the American people.

BLITZER: I'm putting down you for an incomplete for the president.

Congressman, thanks very much for coming in.

CANTOR: Thanks, Wolf.