John Boehner reacted to President Obama’s budget by ignoring the issue of income inequality and making it clear that his mission is to not raise taxes on the wealthy while denying the rest of the country a tax cut.
In a statement, Speaker Boehner said:
Today President Obama laid out a plan for more taxes, more spending, and more of the Washington gridlock that has failed middle-class families. It may be Groundhog Day, but the American people can’t afford a repeat of the same old top-down policies of the past.
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Like the president’s previous budgets, this plan never balances – ever. It contains no solutions to address the drivers of our debt, and no plan to fix our entire tax code to help foster growth and create jobs. Worse yet, President Obama would impose new taxes and more spending without a responsible plan to honestly address the big challenges facing our country.
While the president budget’s is about the past, our budget will be about the future. We will address our government’s spending problem and protect our national security. Our budget will balance, and it will help promote job creation and higher wages, not more government bureaucracy.
It is as if Speaker Boehner is living in an alternate universe where the economy isn’t growing, budget deficits aren’t falling, and unemployment isn’t shrinking. Notice that Boehner claimed that Obama’s budget doesn’t address the big challenges facing the country, but he also never specifically mentions what he thinks those challenges are. What is also missing from Boehner’s is any mention of the middle-class tax cut and income inequality.
Boehner specifically mentions his opposition to tax increases on the wealthy, but he doesn’t spare a second for the idea of lowering taxes on everyone else. When Boehner mentioned fixing the tax code to foster growth and create jobs, he was referring to cutting taxes for the wealthy. That line was a reference to the job creator yarn that Republicans love to spin. Speaker Boehner’s statement was a repeat performance of the same old defense of trickle down economics that Republicans have been offering for decades.
John Boehner’s message to the middle-class was the income inequality does not exist, and that they don’t need a tax cut. Boehner’s statement was a reminder that anyone who isn’t a billionaire or a corporation is invisible to the Republican Party.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
