Washington
(Feb 4)
During a national radio interview on The Mike Gallagher Show, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) discussed the Obama Administration’s lack of an overarching strategy to confront and defeat the terrorist threat, citing among other things the mishandling of the Christmas Day bomber. Boehner also discussed President Obama’s job-killing budget that spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much from our kids and grandkids. Boehner reiterated that Republicans have stood on principle and have offered better solutions on health care, energy, the budget and putting Americans back to work. Following are highlights of Boehner’s interview and accompanying audio:
BOEHNER ON THE KSM TERROR TRIAL & THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S LACK OF OVERARCHING STRATEGY TO CONFRONT AND DEFEAT THE TERRORIST THREAT:
“Listen, I told the press about 10 days ago that this is not going to happen. It isn’t hard to be here in Washington or read the tea leaves and realize that Members of Congress are getting a lot of heat from their constituents. What Congress does is reflect what the American people are saying and it’s not going to happen. When they want another $500 million to fix up this prison in Illinois, I want to see who the Members that are going to vote for this. My goodness, we’re broke. [AUDIO] … The problem here Mike is that there is no overarching strategy that’s being advocated by this Administration on how they are going to take on the terrorists and keep Americans safe. [AUDIO] … This is all part of a troubling pattern of dangerous decisions that’s putting America at risk.” [AUDIO]
BOEHNER ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S JOB-KILLING BUDGET THAT “SPENDS TOO MUCH, TAXES TOO MUCH, AND BORROWS TOO MUCH”:
“Last weekend he came to the Republican retreat at our invitation and talked about fiscal responsibility, and that we got to tighten our belts and then, two days later, his budget comes out, and it was just mind-boggling. $2-trillion in new taxes, spending through the roof and this budget – it’s real simple – it spends too much, it taxes too much, and it borrows too much from our kids and grandkids. And it puts us on a path where this kind of spending is totally unsustainable.” [AUDIO]
BOEHNER ON THE “MODERN-DAY POLITICAL REBELLION” BREWING AGAINST WASHINGTON DEMOCRATS’ JOB-KILLING AGENDA:
“Listen, the American people are awake. We are in the middle of a modern day political rebellion. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m on the road most every weekend, either in my district or somewhere out in America, and I run into people at restaurants, airports, you name it, and the American people have had enough of all of this spending, all of this debt, and all of this government control. And people are scared to death that the country that they grew up in isn’t going to be the country that their kids and grandkids grow up in.” [AUDIO]
BOEHNER ON REPUBLICANS OFFERING BETTER SOLUTIONS ON JOBS, HEALTH CARE, ENERGY & THE BUDGET:
“Republicans over the course of the last year have stood on principle. We’ve stood united against their ‘stimulus’ bill, their budget, their cap-and-trade bill, their health care bill, and Republicans are going to continue to stand on principle and we’re going to continue to be the party of better solutions. You know, if we’re going oppose them on their policies, I think it’s our obligation to tell people how we would do it better.” [AUDIO] … At the retreat, I handed the President a copy of a compilation of our Better Solutions that were put together last year. But we’re going to continue to do this and as we get close to the election season, we’re going to put forward our agenda of what we would do if we were in the majority to show the American people that we are willing to take the courageous stands to put our country back on the right track and put Americans back to work again.” [AUDIO]