During a recent interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) emphasized the need for the congressional Republicans to focus on improving the economy for middle class Americans.
“I want to get more done,” Boehner said of the new Congress on “Special Report.” “We’ve got a president that doesn’t really share our vision. The president believes in bigger government, more government control, more government programs, a top-down approach, while Republicans believe that we ought to empower people, empower small businesses and grow this economy from the bottom up.”
Boehner alleged that the president’s policies have “hurt” the country as a whole and its economy, claiming that the American people — not Obama — are responsible for the sinking unemployment rate, which fell to 5.6 percent in December.
“The economy is a little better, I’m not going to deny that, but he shouldn’t be taking credit for it,” said the Ohio Republican, specifically referencing Obama’s State of the Union address last week. “The American people are the ones that are growing the economy.”
Of course, as Boehner emphasized, the labor participation rate is at its lowest in four decades, indicating that over 37 percent of Americans have dropped out of the work force entirely.
“The improvement in the economy is fine for the top — as he calls it — 1 percent, but for most Americans, they’re not seeing it,” Boehner added.
The House speaker also addressed his plan to sue the president over his executive action on immigration, a move that 26 states are also pursuing in a separate suit.
“This isn’t about immigration,” explained Boehner, who filed a similar suit on behalf of the House over the president’s executive action on Obamacare late last year. “This is about the president violating the Constitution, violating his oath of office and frankly not upholding the rule of law.”
“The president doesn’t have the ability to just change law all by himself,” he later added.
In a rare moment of positivity, Boehner expressed his approval of the president’s decision to scrap his plan to tax college savings plans just days after Obama proposed the move during his State of the Union address.
“The president always wants to raise taxes, and this idea that we’re going to raise taxes and grow government in Washington is exactly what the American people don’t want,” explained Boehner. “The idea that we ought to tax college savings plans was bizarre, and I’m glad the president changed his mind.”
While the speaker was unable to list more than a few things House Republicans anticipate to accomplish while Obama is still in office, he insisted optimistically that “hope springs eternal.”
