Washington
(Jan 25, 2009)
In an appearance this morning on NBC’s
Meet the Press, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) highlighted the
economic recovery proposals Republicans presented to President Obama in a White House meeting on Friday. The plan is based on fast-acting tax relief, rather than slow-moving and wasteful government spending that dominates the congressional Democrats’ plan, to let families and small businesses keep more of what they earn. Boehner noted that Republicans want to work with the President on an economic plan that is effective, but congressional Democrats have derailed the process, taking a plan meant to create jobs and provide fast-acting tax relief and turning it into one that will add hundreds of billions to the deficit without having a real impact on our ailing economy. During the interview, Boehner also warned against raising taxes during the economic downturn, discussed his concern about what the United States will do with the terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay now that the President has indicated he will close the facility by next year, and highlighted Republicans’ strategy of being the party of “better solutions.” Following are highlights of Boehner’s appearance and video of the interview:
BOEHNER HIGHLIGHTS THE HOUSE GOP’S ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN BASED ON FAST-ACTING TAX RELIEF:
“We need an economic rescue package, but we all want one that works, one that helps small businesses, helps American families, helps create jobs and preserves jobs in America, and what we see with their plan is a lot of spending that I just don’t think will work. And so we expressed our concerns to the President on Friday. Eric Cantor, who I have had put together a working group of House Republicans, outlined some of our proposals that we think will work better. Let’s allow American families and small businesses to keep more of what they earn. Let’s make sure that there’s incentives for people to invest in our economy because government can’t do this. As you said earlier, there’s a $2 trillion hole in our economy this year. Government can’t fix this. We can’t borrow and spend our way back to prosperity but what we can do are provide incentives to businesses and families to reinvest in our economy.”
BOEHNER NOTES CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS’ TRILLION DOLLAR SPENDING PLAN IS NOT FOCUSED ON CREATING NEW JOBS:
“If we allow American families to keep more of what they earn, they’re going to save it, invest it, or spend it. All of which are good for the economy. And our plan would allow American families, joint filers, to keep almost $3,200, up to $3,200 of their money. They can help multiply the economy, get the economy moving again if the money’s in their hands, and this is why we have Democrats and Republicans in this country because we do look at these things differently. They believe that all of this spending is going to help, some of it on infrastructure if you can get it out the door quick enough will help. But spending $200 million to fix up the National Mall, $21 million for sod, over $200 million for contraceptives, how is this going to fix an ailing economy? … And right now given the concerns we have over the size of this package and all of the spending in this package, we don’t think it’s going to work. And so if it’s the plan I see today, put me down in the no column.”
BOEHNER WARNS AGAINST RAISING TAXES DURING A RECESSION:
“I have my doubts whether [the Obama Administration will] be bold enough to [raise taxes this year]. They may wait until next year, but raising taxes on anyone in an ailing economy is wrong. And the fact is, that the upper income people they talk about, 75 percent of them, are small business people who pay ordinary income tax rates. And to tax small business, the engine of job growth in America, is really just not a very good idea.”
BOEHNER ASKS WHAT AMERICA WILL DO WITH THE TERRORISTS HOUSED AT GUANTANAMO BAY IF THE FACILITY IS CLOSED NEXT YEAR:
“I understand the problem with Gitmo and the black eye that it’s given us. President Bush wanted to close down Gitmo, too. So did Senator John McCain. And the reason Gitmo is still there, they couldn’t determine what do you do with these 270 prisoners. Some of them you might be able to release, but we’ve already found 61 of those we released back on the battlefield. You don’t want to bring them into the United States where all of a sudden they have rights of US citizens. We have to remember these are terrorists who have attempted to kill Americans. And unilaterally saying we’re going to close Gitmo in a year without knowing how we’re going to deal with them, where we’re going to house them, how we’re going to try them, I think keeps a campaign promise but may be irresponsible.”
BOEHNER OUTLINES REPUBLICANS’ STRATEGY TO BE THE PARTY OF “BETTER SOLUTIONS”:
“I don’t want our party to be the party of no. I want our party to be the party of better ideas, better solutions. There are issues, a lot of issues, Americans are concerned about. And I think as a political party we have to be willing to put out, either to work with our administration, work with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, or if we disagree, then what’s our better solution for the American people? And at the end of the day, I do think we have some better solutions and over the coming months, I think the American people will see more of them.”
