Boehner Sticking To His Guns: “Americans Need Jobs, Not Tax Hikes”

So far, John Boehner is sticking to his guns in the budget talks, rejecting out of hand, Obama’s One trillion tax hike “deal” – which only makes sense because as JE Dyer notes atHot Air; it’s the Democrats who occupy the indefensible ground. 

Essentially, their position is that if Republicans won’t agree to raising the debt ceiling and raising taxes, the president will use his discretion to default on US government debt after 2 August.  They don’t put it that way, of course, but that’s the reality.  If Obama defaults on government debt, it will be because he decided to, not because he had to.  He could be impeached for making such a decision.

This comes via Speaker Boehner’s website:

Republicans Reject White House Demand That Tax Hikes Be Tied to Debt Limit Increase:

• Speaker Boehner rejected President Obama’s demand for job-crushing tax hikes yesterday, and said “spending reforms and cuts greater than the amount of any debt limit increase” are needed.

• Speaker Boehner has said for months “we are not going to raise taxes on the American people.” Tax hikes would only hurt job growth even more. (see video here)

House-Passed Jobs Bills Held Up By Democratic-Led Senate & A White House Bent on Raising Taxes:

• “To help our economy get back on track,” Speaker Boehner said, “the House has passed several bills that would remove government barriers to private-sector job growth” and will be voting on more in the weeks ahead. “We hope the Senate will take those bills up.” (see video here)

• Check out Jobs.GOP.Gov for more information on the Republican Plan for America’s Job Creators and a progress tracker showing where each bill is today.

• House Committees highlighted several GOP jobs bills being held up by the Senate, including bills reining in excessive regulations, paying down our national debt, and more.

• The House Energy & Commerce Committee released a report highlighting House-passed American Energy Initiative bills that would create jobs and save taxpayers billions of dollars.

• Economists say high gas prices pose a threat to jobs and our economy, but Washington Democrats are quite comfortable with the pain at the pump: the Obama Administration has consistently blocked energy production that would help lower costs and create jobs.

Also from the Speaker’s website:

VIDEO: “Our Time is Now” for a Balanced Budget Amendment

As part of the GOP effort to stop Washington from spending money it doesn’t have and spur private-sector job growth, the House will be voting on the Balanced Budget Amendment (H.J. Res. 1) later this month — 16 years after it failed in Congress by only one vote. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) put out the following video highlighting the need for a Balanced Budget Amendment:

On the Senate side… On “Face The Nation,” Sessions Says No Bailout For Big Spenders In Washington:

On the debt ceiling negotiations:

“I have been arguing for months that we should be doing this publicly, in the constitutional process, so the American people could see what’s going on… We need at least seven days to review something as historic as this…”

On taxes:

“[To say that taxes will have to be increased] absolutely is not correct. We have increased discretionary, non-defense spending 24 percent in the last two years… [Democrats] want to now  demand the American people pay more money to fund these increasingly high rates of spending. And that’s the big difference. The American people expect us to bring this spending down to reasonable levels before they’re asked to pay more taxes.”