HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Washington, Jan 28 - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) made the following remarks today on the House floor opposing Democrats’ $1 trillion “stimulus” package and supporting the Republican proposal crafted by House Ways & Means Committee ranking member Dave Camp (R-MI) and Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) that provides fast-acting tax relief that will create jobs in America – a plan that would create 6.2 million new jobs by the end of 2010, according to a methodology used by President Obama’s own nominee as Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, Dr. Christina Romer:

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“Let me thank my colleague from Michigan for yielding and congratulate him and our Republican whip for the proposal that they have on the floor.  I think that the plan that we have on the floor, our alternative, is rooted in the principle that fast-acting tax relief will create more jobs in America than a lot of slow-moving government programs. 

“The bill that we have on the floor, the underlying bill, has as an example 32 new, brand new, government programs that spend $136 billion.  Now, we all know how long it takes to get a new program up, the bureaucracy that has to be hired before we can ever get that money out into the economy.  We also know there's a lot of other spending in this bill that while it may be well-meaning, it may be well-intentioned, we know it not going to create jobs.  Sending $300 million-plus to the Centers for Disease Control to do whatever is not going to create new jobs in America.  We're going to build bigger bureaucracies.  Or we can talk about the $650 million that's going to be spent with digital TV coupons.  Now this looks like a slush fund to me because about 94% of the old TV's that need these boxes to receive signals have already been purchased.  So only about 6% of the TV's in America actually need these boxes.  So that would be about $30 or $40, maybe $50 million.   What is the other $600 million going to be used for?  The point is, is that the underlying bill, while it certainly has some good provisions, has a lot of wasteful spending, a lot of slow-moving government spending in it. 

“When I gave Ms. Pelosi the gavel on the opening day as Speaker of the House, I told her the Republicans would not come to the floor and just be the party of no.  That we would try to be the Party of better ideas and last week when we had the SCHIP bill on the floor, we brought a proposal out here which we thought was a better idea.  Today, in this debate we think that we have a better idea.  President Obama has made clear that he believes that the goal here should be to preserve jobs in America and to create new jobs in America.  And I think that the proposal that we have that puts more money back in the hands of American families and small businesses, that helps homeowners and people who want to buy a home and that takes away the tax liability for those who are unemployed and getting unemployment insurance – that this bill in fact will be better for the American people that better meets the goal that the President himself has outlined. 

“And we want to work with the President.  We've made clear to him that he's reached out and we're reaching out to him because at the end of the day, the American people need a plan that works.  We all know our economy is in a difficult strait.  We all know people are losing their jobs, tens of thousands of them, every week.  And so we have to act.  And we have to help our ailing economy.  The question is, how do we do it best?  And we believe this fast-acting tax relief is the way to get it done. 

“Then we find out today that our proposal will create 6.2 million jobs over the next two years.  About twice as many as the underlying bill and at about half the cost.  Remember, at the end of the day, this bill we're going to pass is not being paid for by taxpayers today.  It's going to be paid for by our kids and our grandkids and their kids.  And we have to be cognizant of the debt that we're putting on them.  So I would urge my colleagues to support the Republican substitute, support a bill that will create 6.2 million jobs, twice as many as the underlying bill at about half the cost.  And I yield back the balance of my time.”  

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