The Hill News

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said he supports former Sen. George Allen's (R-Va.) bid to retake his Senate seat, despite Allen's lack of support for two major initiatives backed this year by GOP leaders.

Cantor said that Allen's lack of support for the most recent debt-ceiling compromise and his refusal to take a stance on Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) 2012 budget weren't dealbreakers in securing an endorsement in Virginia's contested Senate race.

"We may differ on details, but the overall agreement is solid," Cantor said of Allen during a conference call Monday announcing the second-ranking House Republican's support.

Allen had emerged after silence on debt-ceiling negotiations just hours before a House vote to oppose the compromise that Cantor and other Republican leaders had supported.

"This eleventh-hour deal fails to address the country’s serious fiscal problems, has no concrete balanced-budget amendment and p! unts the tough decisions to yet another commission while adding nearly a trillion dollars more to our nation’s debt as they deliberate," Allen said on Aug. 1.

"I think the debt-ceiling agreement that was reached a few weeks ago was not perfect. It's simply a down payment," Cantor said of Allen's position, giving his Virginia ally some political cover.

The former senator, who's running to reclaim the Senate seat he lost in 2006, will face former Virginia governor and former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine in the general election, if he manages to survive some Tea Party opposition in the primary.

A major sticking point in that primary will be Allen's approach toward addressing Ryan's bu! dget, for which he offered support, but would not say explicitly how he would vote on it. Cantor said this spring that he expected candidates for office â€" particularly presidential candidates â€" to "embrace" the plan.

Cantor again provided Allen with some cover, saying that the two of them are in agreement with the broad principles of reform.

"George and I both agree that we've got to change Medicare in order to save Medicare," the majori! ty leader explained. "We've got to act, and George is somebody who has shown his commitment to doing that."