HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Washington, Jan 23, 2009 - After a White House meeting with President Obama and congressional Democrats this morning, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) discussed the economic recovery proposals he and Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) presented to the President during the meeting.  The House GOP proposals are rooted in the principle that fast-acting tax relief – rather than slow-moving and wasteful government spending in the congressional Democrats’ plan – is the most effective way to create jobs and put the economy back on track.  The proposals include tax relief for middle-class families, job seekers, small businesses owners, the self-employed, and homebuyers.  Video and a full transcript of Boehner’s media appearance after the meeting follows:

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HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH): I think we had a very productive meeting with the President and Vice President and our Democrat colleagues.  There’s unanimity that our economy needs help.  There’s also a desire to move a package that would help rescue our economy and help American families, small businesses and entrepreneurs, and the self-employed.

We expressed our concerns about some of the spending that’s being proposed in the House bill – and the fact that it doesn’t spend out very quickly; it’s almost too late.  We obviously have concerns about the size of the package.    

The President has asked for our ideas.  And we may still be scheduled to meet with him next week but we felt that as fast as this package is moving we needed to share those ideas with him today.  And so Mr. Cantor and I outlined the ideas from the House Republicans about how we can get fast acting tax relief in the hands of America’s families and small businesses because at the end of the day, government can’t solve this problem.  The American people have to solve it.

The way they can solve it is if we allow them to keep more of the money that they earn.

QUESTION: Mr. Boehner, you talked about the size of the package perhaps being too big but there are many economists who now are talking about the package being too small – the economy might need something as much as two trillion dollars in the next five years, clearly over a trillion dollars.  What do you think of those arguments and could your caucus support something that big?

HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH): I think at this point we believe spending nearly a trillion dollars is really more than what we ought to be putting on the backs of our kids and their kids.  But at the end of the day this is not our money to spend – we’re borrowing this money from our kids – and so we have to find a package that’s the right size.  You know, if we’re going to come back and revisit this later this year and next year we can deal with it at that time – but I think that the most important point that we all agreed on in the room is that we have to do this right.

Obviously Republicans – we have ideas that lowering tax rates that allowing people to keep more of what they earn will allow people to spend that money, invest that money, or save it – all of which are good for the economy.

QUESTION: Mr. Boehner, you had three strong words in reaction to the Democratic House proposal.  What was your message to President Obama?

HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH): You know, I’m concerned about the size of the package and I’m concerned about some of the spending that’s in there. How you can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives – how does that stimulate the economy?

You can go through a whole host of issues that have nothing to do with growing jobs in America and helping people keep their jobs.  Thanks.