-House Speaker Reports No Progress In Talks With Obama On Cliff
-Rep. Boehner: Must Shift Focus of Talks To Specific Spending Cuts
-Rep. Boehner: ‘That Risk Remains’ That Taxes Will Go Up For All
By John Shaw
WASHINGTON (MNI) – House Speaker John Boehner Thursday said fiscal cliff
talks remain stalemated and the impasse is unlikely to end until President Obama
offers a specific package of spending cuts.
“My goal is to get an agreement with the President of the United States,”
that cuts spending, Boehner said at a briefing.
Boehner said that so far Obama has “just not been serious about cutting
spending.”
The Speaker said Obama’s proposals so far have been “anything but” balanced
because they rely almost exclusively on raising taxes.
“Washington has a spending problem that can’t be fixed with tax revenues
alone,” Boehner said.
Boehner did not specifically handicap the state of the fiscal cliff
negotiations, but warned “the risk remains” that tax rates will go up for all
taxpayers on Jan. 1 if the nation goes over the fiscal cliff.
Boehner also said that he will continue to use the debt ceiling as a tool
to effect fiscal policy.
“The debt limit ought to be used to bring fiscal stability to Washington,
D.C.,” he said, saying that Congress will never give up control over the
nation’s purse strings.
Boehner expressed frustration that the impasse remains as critical fiscal
cliff deadlines near, but said that was not his choice.
“I’ve been pushing all year for us to address the problem,” of the fiscal
cliff, he said.
Boehner said there is still a “golden opportunity” for passage of major tax
and entitlement reform next year.
–MNI Washington Bureau; tel: +1 202-371-2121; email: jshaw@mni-news.com
[TOPICS: M$U$$$,MC$$$$,MT$$$$,MFU$$$,MGU$$$]
