Speaker John Boehner took to the Fox News Sunday airwaves this weekend for his first Sunday show interview since ascending to the top job in the House this month. Previewing what is likely to be bitter budget fight this year, Boehner appeared to dismiss all the new government spending projects President Obama mentioned in his State Of The Union address last Tuesday.
Obama proposed boosting government support for education, internet access and infrastructure as part of a US response to a rising China, what Obama called America’s “Sputnik moment.” Boehner, who rode into power thanks to a surge of anti-spending tea party voters, told FNS host Chris Wallace not to hold his breath waiting for Obama’s requests to make it into a House-passed budget.
“The other night, all he did was call for more stimulus spending. I think our team has been listening to the American people,” Boehner said. “They want to us reduce spending, and there is no limit to the amount of spending we’re willing to cut.”
The Speaker did say a national debt default — which the White House has warned could be a result from the Republicans’ tough talk on the budget — was not likely to happen, despite the tea partiers in his caucus who have said they’d go all the way to government shutdown if Obama does not agree to deep cuts in non-defense spending.
Boehner said a default “would be a financial disaster not only for our country, but for the worldwide economy.”
“You can’t create jobs if you default on the federal debt,” he added.
Watch Boehner’s interview on FNS, which includes talk of the Egyptian crisis, which the Speaker said Obama is handling “pretty well”:
