Post by Moses on Feb 3, 2006 15:45:29 GMT -5
New US House leaders stress tax and spending cuts
Fri Feb 3, 2006 1:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The new Republican leadership team in the U.S. House of Representatives vowed on Friday to make President George W. Bush's tax cuts permanent while trying to restore a federal budget surplus by cutting spending.
"I think making the tax cuts permanent is the surest way to bring more investment in our economy to create more jobs and a stronger economy," newly elected House Majority Leader John Boehner told reporters before meeting with other Republican leaders to set an agenda for the coming months.
"When we talk about freedom as Republicans, there is nothing more important than economic freedom," Boehner said. The Ohio lawmaker was elected on Thursday to his party's No. 2 leadership post after scandals forced Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas to quit the position.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, also speaking to journalists, emphasized trying to balance the U.S. budget, which the Congressional Budget Office says will hit a $337 billion deficit this year.
"What we want to do is hold the line on spending," said Hastert, an Illinois Republican. He added that he wanted to restore "a surplus in the budget."
Republicans have sought to advance both objectives in Congress this week. Democrats argued that the goals were in direct conflict, with the proposed renewal of tax cuts more than wiping out savings in federal spending.
The Senate on Thursday approved $70 billion in tax cuts, part of the Republican effort to maintain President Bush's lower tax rates. Differences will have to be negotiated with the House, which has passed a $56 billion tax-cut bill.
The House narrowly approved earlier in the week a controversial bill to cut domestic spending by $39 billion.
Boehner, who upset a former deputy to DeLay to win the majority leader's job, joked to reporters that he felt like a dog that had been chasing a car -- and caught it.
With the party leadership election, House Republicans hoped to begin to move beyond ethics problems arising from a high-profile scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Boehner said his own relations with lobbyists had been ethical. Lawmakers involved in the scandal had broken federal laws and rules -- and "clearly the rules were working because these members were in fact caught," he said. [Doesn't sound like a "reformer", does he? -- and yet this is what the media labeled him as in their headlines]
Beyond that, he said, House Republicans needed to work with Democrats to "look at other shortcomings, and what is it we can do to further strengthen the [pay to play] system." Transparency was key to rebuilding trust with voters, Boehner said.
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