Boehner Calls For Two-Year Tax Freeze

House Minority Leader Congressman John Boehner today proposed a two-point plan for immediate, bipartisan action to get people working again. Appearing on ABC’s Good Morning America, Boehner said that President Obama’s recent economic proposals fall well short of what is needed to address the two main problems hampering job creation: excessive government spending and the uncertainty Washington Democrats’ policies – especially their massive tax hike – are causing small businesses. The plan House Republicans are setting out today would address both problems, immediately and decisively.
House Republicans are calling on Congress to take the following two actions this month:
Pass a bill that cuts non-security related government spending for the next year back to FY 2008 levels – before all of the bailouts, government takeovers, and ‘stimulus’ spending sprees began. On Monday, President Obama proposed another round of the same failed ‘stimulus’ spending that has led to fewer jobs and more debt. The legislation House Republicans are proposing would provide the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to promote private-sector job creation and prevent a lame-duck Congress from writing another bloated omnibus spending bill after the November elections. Exceptions should be made for programs affecting seniors, veterans, and national security.
Enact a two-year freeze on all current tax rates to stop job-killing tax hikes on families and small businesses. This would help ease the uncertainty employers and entrepreneurs are facing so they can get back to creating jobs. While President Obama intends to move forward with his plan to raise taxes on half of small business income in America, House Republicans will continue to fight to permanently stop job-killing tax hikes.
“The American people are asking the question, ‘where are the jobs?,’ and yet here’s the White House worrying about what I’ve got to say instead of working together to get our economy going again and to get jobs back in America,” Boehner said during the interview. “If we’re able to do this together, I think we’ll show the American people that we understand what’s going on in the country and we’ll be able to get our economy moving again and get jobs growing in America.”
Boehner’s comments came just hours before President Obama was scheduled to talk about the economy in Cleveland – an event that the White House has admitted is a “direct response” to an economic speech Boehner gave in the same city last month. During that speech, Boehner called on President Obama to take five steps to break the ongoing economic uncertainty – including cutting spending and stopping job-killing tax hikes. Boehner also called on President Obama to announce his intent to veto lame-duck job-killing bills – including ‘card check’ and a ‘cap-and-trade’ national energy tax, call on Democratic Leaders to stop obstructing Republicans’ attempts to repeal ObamaCare’s job-killing ‘1099 mandate,’ and ask for – and accept – the resignations of the remaining members of his economic team.
Later this month, House Republicans will lay out a clear and clearly different agenda focused on getting people working again. This agenda is being built from the ground up by listening to the American people, who want Washington to end its out-of-control spending spree and end uncertainty for small businesses so they can get back to creating jobs.