Issa Statement on Boehner Plan

(WASHINGTON) House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) today released the following statement in support of Speaker John Boehner’s debt plan:

“Under Speaker John Boehner’s leadership, the House of Representatives has advanced the most serious spending reforms considered during my tenure in Congress. From the House Republican Budget to the Cut, Cap and Balance plan passed last week, our proposals to rein in government spending have been serious, substantive and responsible.

The same cannot be said about the Democrats that control Washington. Neither Senator Harry Reid nor President Barack Obama have taken seriously the mandate from the American people to rein in out-of-control government spending, and in the case of Senator Reid, he has abdicated his responsibilities– offering no legislative alternative to the spending proposals that have passed the House.

In discussions with the White House and Senate over spending and the debt limit, Speaker Boehner has been the adult in the room, with a serious and substantive plan. He rightly left the negotiations when the President, by his own admission, moved the goal posts and demanded dramatically higher tax increases.

Some outside groups are comparing the upcoming vote on raising the debt limit to the vote on TARP. They are quite simply wrong. I was a leading opponent of TARP because it created a massive slush fund that invited abuse. It eroded moral hazard in the marketplace and placed the taxpayers on the hook to pay for the folly of Wall Street investment banks – it took the country in the wrong direction.

The debate today is over how much spending will be cut in exchange for an increase in the debt limit. That is movement in the right direction. Many of us, myself included, would like to go further and are disappointed by the bad faith that has become a hallmark of the White House and our Senate counterparts, and in fact we have voted for more substantive reforms.

Speaker Boehner has empowered members of our conference to be leaders and the results are reflected in the passage the Ryan Budget and Cut, Cap and Balance and he continues to ably represent us in negotiations over the debt limit. The result of those discussions, limited as they may be, will be a significant step in the right direction – toward fiscal responsibility and a government that lives within its means. The Speaker has my full support and the support of our conference as he negotiates on behalf of the House of Representatives and the American people.”

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