US’s Boehner: House Set To Pass Bush Tax Cut Renewal in July

–House Speaker Boehner: Tax Vote To Spell Out Principles For Reform
–Must Focus On Spending Controls, Entitlement Reforms
–Tax Increases Now Would Be Harmful To Economy

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – House Speaker John Boehner Thursday reiterated
that the House will vote in July to renew Bush era tax cuts, adding that
increasing taxes would be damaging.

“Raising taxes in this economy is the wrong thing to do,” Boehner
said at a briefing.

“I’m not interested in raising taxes,” he said.

Extending the Bush tax cuts would be “critical to our economy,”
Boehner said.

Boehner said the U.S. should begin to tackle its budget deficits
immediately through reforms on the spending side of the ledger.

“We have to have controls on spending. We have an entitlement
crisis,” Boehner said.

Boehner also said the Senate should follow the lead of the House
and pass legislation to replace the scheduled across-the-board spending
cuts with a different package of spending savings.

“It’s time for the Senate to act,” Boehner said, adding that
President Obama should get “engaged” on the issue.

Boehner said that he expects deficit reduction talks to extend
“well into next year.”

** MNI Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

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