Boehner vs. Obama: Speaker to Present GOP’s Alternative Strategy for Job Creation Today
As President Obama continues to drum up support for his jobs $447 billion jobs plan, House Speaker John Boehner will deliver an alternative path for job creation in an address to the Economic Club of Washington later today, focusing chiefly on tax reform by broadening the base of the tax structure without raising taxes and continuing the GOP’s quest to cut red tape from Washington’s bureaucracy. According to a senior aide to the speaker, Boehner will push to enact the GOP’s Plan for America’s Job Creators by “streamlining and reforming a burdensome tax code, stopping harmful regulations, and cutting Washington spending,” which Boehner will say “have combined to create a toxic environment for job creation that has rattled confidence and prevented job creators from hiring new workers.” Boehner will add that although there is some common ground between his vision for job creation and the president’s bill known as the American Jobs Act, the speaker will continue to push for Republican alternatives to be part of a jobs bill because Obama’s plan is “no substitute for the pro-growth policies needed to remove barriers to job creation in America.” The House is not expected to bring Obama’s bill in its full legislative language to the floor for a clean vote, but sources indicate that aspects of the president’s proposal will work through the committee process and pieces of his plan will eventually come to the floor for consideration. The speaker is also expected to explain his belief that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction “should advance fundamental tax reform to support private investment and job creation, and address the structural problems in our entitlement programs that have put our country in danger of more job-destroying downgrades.” Earlier this week, Boehner told reporters that the 12-member deficit reduction panel should aim high as it works to identify at least $1.5 trillion in savings over the next 10 years. “We should tackle as much of our debt problem as is possible. As you all know, I spent months working with the president trying to do the big deal [during the debt limit debate], and I always believed that it’d be easier to get the votes if, in fact, we got a big deal,” Boehner said on Tuesday. “The debt that hangs over our economy, the debt that hangs over our society, is a serious impediment for our country, and so the bigger the job of the debt committee, the more that they’re able to do, frankly I think is very helpful for our country.” Today, Boehner will also attempt to establish the ground rules for Republicans participating in the talks, pressing the committee to agree on significant reforms without raising taxes. “He will note that tax reform should include closing loopholes – but tax increases, which Boehner believes would destroy jobs, are not a viable option for the Joint Select Committee,” the aide wrote in an email. “He will make the case that by working together to liberate our economy from excessive regulation, higher taxes and out-of-control spending, rather than focusing on short-term gimmicks that could worsen the environment for job creation, the two parties can provide certainty to job creators and lay the foundation for long-term economic growth in America.”