On the day before President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, House Speaker John Boehner of West Chester told workers at the Vinylmax LLC facility in Hamilton that the government needs to help the economy by passing a budget.
“The economy is just limping along and I think we could be doing a lot better,” Boehner said. “It is time that the government gets back to the basics and the most basic thing we should do, is what you all do, and that is do a budget.”
Boehner told the 210 employees at Vinylmax, a window-making business, that the House has passed a budget the past few years, but the Senate hasn’t passed a budget in almost four years.
“The President has gone through this exercise, but no member of the House or the Senate, who is a Republican, voted for his budget the past few years,” Boehner said. “It is time for Washington, literally, to get back to basics. We can’t continue to spend money that we don’t have.”
Boehner also quickly addressed the government’s tax code, immigration and education in his three-minute speech on Monday.
“We educate about half of America’s students,” Boehner said. “I don’t think we can compete in a global economy in the long term, if we don’t find a way to educate more of America’s students.”
After his speech, Boehner then took questions from Vinylmax employees, but refused to answer any of the media’s questions.
One employee asked Boehner if he supported repealing the Affordable Care Act.
“I do. The idea that the federal government is going to run the healthcare insurance program for every American – I think is a great idea,” Boehner joked. “Actually it is an awful idea. Listen, we can’t even run the post office. What else have you seen the government do and do well? Not much.”
There weren’t many other questions asked, but the one that drew the biggest response was when an employee asked Boehner if he was going to run for President in four years.
“No, I am not running for President,” a shocked Boehner responded. “No. No.
“Listen to me, now, I am the most open, transparent, straight-forward guy in Washington. When I say, ‘no,’ I mean it. No.
Posted in: Government, News |
