Boehner talks up latest GOP budget measure

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Friday made the case for a new GOP budget measure, days ahead of a likely vote.

In a statement, Boehner said the proposal from Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) that would force President Obama to project when the budget would come to balance would build on recently enacted legislation to raise the debt limit.

That measure would also withhold lawmaker pay if the House or Senate don’t pass a budget this year.

“We need President Obama to do his job as well,” Boehner said. “With this measure, we are giving the president a chance to kick his habit of submitting budgets that spend, tax, and borrow too much. That approach clearly isn’t working.”

Boehner’s statement illustrates that Republicans believe debt and deficits are a political winner for them, after making that a key part of their argument in last year’s election. 

GOP lawmakers have consistently hammered Senate Democrats for not passing a budget over the last four years, and have said that too much government spending weighs down the private sector. 

The Friday statement from Boehner also comes the same day the government announced the economy created 157,000 jobs last month. 

House Rules is scheduled to consider Price’s proposal — the Require Presidential Leadership and No Deficit, or Require a PLAN Act — on Monday, setting up a floor vote as early as Tuesday. 

The measure would require Obama to submit another budget for fiscal 2014, if the first effort does not estimate when the deficit would be erased. 

The White House has said its budget won’t be ready by Monday’s deadline, after only beating the deadline once in Obama's first term.

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