Readers might be forgiven for thinking that someone was actually out to try and distract Republicans from their cost cutting election mandate. After all, we've had one distraction after another to take away attention from the GOP's effort in the new Congress. First it was the Tucson shooting, then the hype about Obama's "Sputnik moment" State of the Union speech and now the crisis in Egypt.
But all that isn't taking House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) off message. In this interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday he makes it clear he intends to carry though the assignment that the voters last November gave to the new Congress:
Highlights:
BOEHNER ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S REQUEST TO RAISE THE DEBT LIMIT WHILE CALLING FOR MORE “STIMULUS” SPENDING:
“The President of the United States is asking us to increase the debt limit. On Tuesday night, he didn’t even address it. And I don’t think the American people will tolerate increasing the debt limit without serious reductions in spending and changes to the budget process so that we can make sure that this never happens again. The other night all he did was call for more ‘stimulus’ spending. ... Listen, there has been a spending spree going on in Washington the last couple of years that is beyond control. And if the president is going to ask us to increase the debt limit, he’s going have to be willing to cut up the credit cards.”
BOEHNER ON CUTTING GOVERNMENT SPENDING TO HELP CREATE NEW JOBS: “THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE AMOUNT OF SPENDING WE’RE WILLING TO CUT”:
“Our team has been listening to the American people; they want us to reduce spending. And there is no limit to the amount of spending we’re willing to cut. ... The American people want us to cut spending, they don’t want more ‘stimulus’ spending. ... We started on the first day of Congress by cutting Congress’ own budget. I cut my leadership budget, all the leadership budgets were cut, committee budgets were cut. All members’ office budgets were cut. We followed that up with weekly cuts on the House floor, including this past week when we eliminated taxpayer funding of presidential elections. We also voted to repeal the job-killing health care bill which will save us $2.6 trillion in spending in the next ten years and avoid $700 billion tax increase. We have also called in our ‘Pledge to America’ to end all TARP spending, eliminate all excess ‘stimulus’ spending that still may be out there, and why don’t they get the federal government out of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and save billions in the process?”
BOEHNER ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CUTTING SPENDING TO HELP END SOME OF THE UNCERTAINTY FACING JOB CREATORS:
“Cutting spending will in fact help create jobs in America. ... The fact is this, by spending money we don’t have, running up the huge budget deficits, we create more uncertainty in the private sector. This is where cutting spending will create jobs because it is going to bring greater fiscal responsibility here in Washington, DC, end some of the uncertainty, and allow jobs to be created in America. ... We all heard what our voters had to say: cut spending, create jobs. The fact is that our spending resolution where we instructed the Appropriations Committee to come back to the House - that we voted on it this past week - said bring us back at 2008 levels pre-’stimulus,’ pre-bailout levels or less.”
BOEHNER ON SENATE DEMOCRATS IGNORING THE CHALLENGES POSED BY RUN-AWAY ENTITLEMENT SPENDING:
“I’ve made it real clear that I think it’s time for Washington to have an adult conversation with the American people about the big challenges that face us. Frankly, I think the White House is interested in having that same conversation. But here we’ve got the Senate Majority Leader who says there is no problem in Social Security. And if we can’t get Senate Democrats and their leader to recognize that we’ve got real problems I don’t know how we begin to move down this path of having this adult conversation that I’d like to have and I frankly think the president would like to have. ... The American people want us to look them in the eye and say this is how big the problem is. I think that that conversation has to happen.”
BOEHNER ON EGYPT AND SUPPORTING THOSE PEOPLE CALLING OUT FOR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY:
“Our Administration so far has handled this tense situation pretty well. Clearly reforms need to occur in Egypt. And frankly, anyplace around the world where people are calling out for freedom and democracy I think we have a responsibility to respond. I think listening to the Egyptian people, working with the government, to bring more democratic reforms is all in the right direction. ... What we don’t want are radical ideologies to take control of a very large and important country in the Middle East. ... There are legitimate grievances that the Egyptian people have. And they need to be addressed. Whether that is through free and fair elections, whether it’s through more democratic reforms in the short-term, I think all of these again are moving in the right direction.”
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