House Leader John Boehner Previews New GOP "Contract"

Hints at the viable, effective alternatives to more of the Obama big government boondoggle!

In remarks to The City Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio on August 24, 2010, House GOP Leader John Boehner (OH), the man who is likely to become the next Speaker of the House should the GOP take control in November, laid out more of the GOP plan to help America's economy and jobs recover.

Unemployment in Ohio has been over 10% for much of Obama's presidency. And despite repeated visits to the state by President Obama, it's clear that Obama's only answer to the problem: more government spending, is not the answer. Obama's big government program, replete with onerous new taxes and regulations is strangling job growth in the private sector. There is a better way.

Leader Boehner laid out "five actions President Obama should take immediately to break this economic uncertainty and help more Americans find an honest day’s work:"

• First, President Obama should announce he will not carry out his plan to impose job-killing tax hikes on families and small businesses.
• Second, President Obama should announce that he will veto any job-killing bills sent to his desk by a lame-duck Congress – including ‘card check,’ a national energy tax, and any other tax increases on families and small businesses.
• Third, President Obama should call on Democratic Leaders in Congress to stop obstructing Republicans’ attempts to repeal the new health care law’s job-killing ‘1099 mandate.’
• Fourth, President Obama should submit to Congress for its immediate consideration an aggressive spending reduction package.
• Fifth, President Obama should ask for – and accept – the resignations of the remaining members of his economic team, starting with Secretary Geithner and Larry Summers, the head of the National Economic Council.

Details on the above are offered in the full text of Boehner's remarks.

The GOP Alternative Starts by Listening, not Lecturing

Boehner points out that the GOP alternatives, soon to be unveiled in full detail as the fall campaign heats up, are based on the listening project called America Speaking Out. The ideas of ordinary Americans have been distilled into a program that Boehner calls a "clear and positive governing agenda focused on getting people working again." As Boehner describes it:

This agenda will reject Washington-knows-best policies and offer a fresh start focused on unshackling small businesses, unleashing the entrepreneurship of our people and helping families across this great nation realize the American Dream.

Now, this won’t be just some document handed down by Washington know-it-alls pushing the same-old, same-old.

And it certainly won’t be based on the idea that sitting in Washington cutting backroom deals on 2,000-page bills represents hope.

We are building this agenda from the ground up by listening to the American people.

Primary among these ideas will be plans to cap "Endless spending sprees, entangled tax structures, and bureaucracy run amok – these are all outgrowths of a tired, bloated, and broken Washington." House Republicans plan to do this by canceling unspent stimulus and TARP bailouts, freezing government pay and hiring and a freeze on new job killing regulations.

Boehner closed his remarks by saying that "It’s time to put grown-ups in charge. It’s time for people willing to accept responsibility. It’s time to do what we say we’re going to do."