John Boehner, Mar 7, 2008

Washington - It’s budget season again in Washington, D.C., and that means lawmakers in Congress will spend countless hours figuring how to spend your hard-earned tax dollars. Before we began this lengthy process, I asked my colleagues to consider a series of questions about what our priorities are:

• Will Congress embrace for the second year in a row the largest tax increase to bankroll billions in wasteful spending?

• Will Congress punt for the second year in a row on fundamental entitlement reform even as Social Security and Medicare trustees warn that the two programs are headed toward bankruptcy?

• Will Congress vote to saddle middle-class families and small businesses with tax hikes at a time when they already are struggling to make ends meet amid increasing costs for gasoline, health care, and mortgages?

• Will Congress use gimmicks to mask the underlying irresponsibility of its budget, which is expected to include billions in new, unchecked federal spending?

But that’s not the worst of it. The budget resolution approved by Budget Committee includes the largest tax increase in American history - a whopping total of $683 billion - to pay for billions in new, wasteful Washington spending. Every Republican on the Committee voted against this huge tax hike, but it still passed. In Ohio, the average federal tax burden will increase by $2,716 if this tax hike becomes law, according to staff at the U.S. House Budget Committee. In times of economic uncertainty, the last thing the American economy needs is a massive tax increase. We need pro-growth tax cuts for the middle class to help the American people and keep our economy moving - but what is poised to come before the full House of Representatives is the exact opposite: job-killing tax hikes on a massive scale.

Among the "achievements" that came out of the Budget Committee:

• Passing the largest increase in American history;

• Raising federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars to grow government programs;

• Refusing to stop earmarks and begin real reform;

• Raising taxes on children by slashing the $1,000 per child tax credit in half; and

• Refusing to rein in entitlement spending to save Medicare for future generations.

While lawmakers say they understand the need to act to prevent a meltdown of this critical program, their actions belie their true intentions. When offered an opportunity to actually begin reforming Medicare, the majority on the House Budget Committee said "no thanks" to an amendment that would save Medicare money by reducing junk lawsuits and focusing Medicare’s resources where they should be focused: on needy seniors, not the wealthy. This is just more evidence that the Majority remains in denial about the entitlement reform necessary to save Medicare so that future generations get benefits.

The American people expect their leaders in Washington to work together to address the most important priorities of the day. At a time of economic uncertainty, no priorities are more important to American families and small businesses than keeping taxes low and reining in wasteful Washington spending. Republicans stand ready to work with House Democrats to balance the budget without raising taxes and finally address the entitlement spending tsunami that is just on the horizon.

Washington is broken, and it won’t be fixed until lawmakers decide to stop frittering away taxpayer dollars and embrace real reforms for valuable programs. The budget process is just beginning. Hopefully, we can end with a bill that the American people will recognize as a bipartisan solution for responsible spending.

Congressman John Boehner is the House Minority Leader. Boehner, a Republican, represents Ohio's Eighth Congressional District, which includes Miami, Butler, Preble, Darke, and Mercer Counties.