By Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) accused the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats Friday of mishandling the U.S. economy following the Labor Department’s announcement that unemployment has hit 10.2%,

“Today’s report is yet another reminder that American families and small businesses are still struggling, and the White House response is falling short,” said Boehner.

Boehner pointed to failed promises and exorbitant spending, citing the Democrats’ health care reform bill and stimulus plan as steps that will plunge the U.S. further into debt.

“Since the stimulus plan was signed into law, more than three million private sector jobs have been lost,” said Boehner “Now, Speaker Pelosi is pressing ahead with a $1.3 trillion government takeover of health care, endorsed by President Obama, that will destroy 5.5 million jobs according to methodology developed by his own senior economist.”

Congressman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) accuses the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package of causing further job losses instead of decreasing unemployment rates. Pence argues that Republicans are advocating fiscal discipline and tax relief for working families and small businesses. (0:50)

 

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By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

During a press conference Wednesday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio.) said President Obama and Vice President Biden have been telling lies about why the Stimulus package hasn’t reversed the nation’s spiraling unemployment rate.

“I found it interesting in the last couple of days, the Vice President and the President mentioned the fact they didn’t realize how difficult an economic circumstance we were in. Now this is the biggest fabrication I’ve seen since I’ve been in Congress. I’ve sat through those meetings at the White House with the President, the Vice President, trust me there’s not one person that sat in those rooms that didn’t know how serious our economic crisis was,” Boehner said.

Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio.), Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-Wa) cautioned that the recent legislation put forth by the Democrats will do nothing but increase taxes which, in the long term, will hinder consumer spending.

“Republicans know and the American people know that what we need is fiscal discipline in Washington D.C and we need to give the American people a tax relief, working families, small businesses and family
farms need more of their hard earned money to put this economy back on its feet,” said Pence.

As for health care, McMorris-Rodgers explained that “We cannot forget that doctors are the experts, we must guard that relationship between the doctor and his patient; it is one of the most valued relationships
that we have,” adding that “We can reform health care, and we can give options to the uninsured without the federal government setting up shop as a big health insurance company or the health care gate keeper.”

By Michael Combier-Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) criticized the $787 billion economic stimulus package for having too many repercussions in the daily life of American middle-class taxpayers. The middle-class has been hit the hardest by measures taken by the Obama administration said Boehner during a weekly press conference in Washington.

“The pattern here is pretty clear”, said Boehner. “Every time the President makes a so-called tough decision, it is the American middle-class that gets hit the hardest… People who follow the rules, people who pay their mortgages on times, pay their credit cards on times, go to work every day, they’re the ones who” are getting hit upon every day, he said.

Boehner said that “people are really fed up and Washington is hanging up the middle-class in to dry” and require them to pay for the stimulus package, the financial bailouts of AIG and General Motors.

The usefulness of the stimulus package was questioned by Boehner with the attempt of a Georgia town to use stimulus funds “in order to lure” a company with 1,200 jobs based in Ohio.

On the recent bankruptcy of General Motors, Boehner said that the Obama administration is “going to control the board at General Motors and so the government will make the decisions… Auto companies force Americans to buy cars they don’t want to buy. This is lunacy, and all of this is going to get stuck on the back of American middle class’ taxpayers.”

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

This morning Congressional Democrats presented a budget they claim will make essential investments in the economic recovery and drastically reduce the deficit nearly in half by 2014.

Congressman John Spratt (D-NC) said the resolution will reduce the $1.8 trillion deficit to $586 billion by 2014.

“We’re going to take student loans and convert them into direct loans, saving $53 billion over a period of five years. We’re going to put money in the IRS, and HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) and other government agencies, and say, ‘We want to see stricter enforcement,’ because we believe program integrity initiatives like that can save as much as $50 billion…. Now that’s not a deficit that is satisfactory in and of itself but it is quite an accomplishment,” Spratt said.

Today Republicans are expected to issue their budget proposal, their second in two weeks.

“Apparently they are divided on this issue,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). “We wanted multiple budgets as we normally do as well but we are not divided. We’re going to see a unity of purpose and unity of commitment on the Democratic side. I don’t mean unanimous but great unity.”

Spratt says the budget introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and other representatives is “awfully hard to get down because it calls for some huge, substantial cuts.”  

House Education and Labor Committee Chair Rep. George Miller (D-CA) said he is “excited” to see that this budget along with the economic stimulus package, for the first time, will provide more resources for early childhood education all the way up to college education.

“This budget with respect to education responds to what every business leader who has come to this Capitol, has demanded from this Congress, and that is to improve the American education system so that when we emerge out of this economic crisis we will be stronger, we will be better educated and we will be more competitive in the globalized economy that confronts us from now throughout our entire future,” Miller said. 

The budget stresses the need for a clean energy economy. Congressman Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) says the proposed budget will create energy independence and job creation. 

 “The Democratic budget builds on a significant funding and tax incentive for the Recovery Act by increasing our critical investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency by some 18% for 2010…. We need to do this to limit our dependence on foreign oil,” Lujan said. 

House Republicans have felt the sting of Partisanship during the passing of the Economic Stimulus Package. Congressmen Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) speak about how they feel, the relationship between the House and President Obama, and the time frame involved in passing the legislation. Representative Chaffetz said that although Democrats won the election, he “was elected too”, and his constituents in Utah should have a stake in deciding on the package. (02:45)

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

 

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While speaking at a pen and pad session on Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer stated that the Conference Committee on the Economic Stimulus package is going to be about seeking consensus. Since the Senate amended the economic recovery bill which came out of the House, the House and Senate need to settle on a final version in a Conference Committee. Hoyer would not specify what the House’s priorities in the Conference Committee would be, but said that he hopes to pick up votes in the House. He continued that he hopes Republicans in the Senate will be willing to compromise further, because they have been “gambling” with America’s future, and have been more concerned about rebuilding the Republican Party than in rebuilding the economy. Hoyer said he has not spoken with Senators Spector, Snowe, or Collins, the Senate Republicans who supported the bill, and that their stated unwillingness to negotiate about certain portions of the bill in Conference was not reasonable.

When asked if the price tag of the bill will be larger once it comes out of Conference, Hoyer said no, and highlighted that the original House bill was less expensive than the Senate version by several billion dollars, and created half a million more jobs. Job creation is the main focus of the House in this stimulus package, according to Hoyer, who said that helping those hurt by the crisis was a top priority. The final question during the session asked if $1.5 trillion dollars was enough money to invest in the recovery package, and Hoyer said that the fact that we are talking about numbers of this magnitude really says something about the sorry state that we let our economy slide into.

Hoyer said that the Conference Committee is expected to start immediately, and says he thinks the president would sign the House version of the bill “enthusiastically”.

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) addressed in a news conference on “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.” that figures have been thrown around like paper money and talks about a comparison from a colleague regarding the trillion dollar bill. McConnell said he doesn’t think we should just completely act like the trillion dollar amount is irrelevant. (1:00)

 

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By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Today Talk Radio News Service the Washington Bureau will be covering Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) news conference on the economic stimulus package. Additionally, the Bureau will have coverage of the 2009 National Health Policy Conference, and will cover an event on “Human Rights and Civil Society in Iran” at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. UN Correspondent Tala Dowlatshahi is covering a briefing on Sierra Leone war crimes.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed “great pride” at a press conference discussing the recently passed stimulus package. When asked if Pelosi blames herself for the lack of Republican support for the legislation, she responded that she “takes credit” for the bill and explained that Democrats had “reached out to Republicans all along the way.” The administration plans on spending 75% of the stimulus package, which received no Republican votes in the House of Representatives, within the first eighteen months. With five hundred thousand Americans losing their jobs every month, Pelosi stressed the need for a “swift and bold” plan to help the 4.8 million currently unemployed Americans. The house will meet next week to discuss the Children’s Health Insurance Bill.