GOP proposes renewing tax cuts, freezing spending

[September 08, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republican Leader John Boehner on Wednesday proposed a two-year freeze on all tax rates and a cut in government spending to the levels of 2008, before a deep recession took hold of the economy.

In a broadcast interview, the Ohio Republican said he was offering a "bipartisan" alternative to the package of business tax incentives and infrastructure spending that President Barack Obama was slated to announce later Wednesday in Cleveland.

Obama has charged that the GOP criticizes him harshly, without offering any policy alternatives. Boehner touted his freeze-and-cut roadmap to recovery as an option instead of a catchall spending bill that Congress would pass later this fall.

Boehner said the biggest problem with the economy currently is the "uncertainty facing small businesses" that have been reluctant to engage in significant new hiring.

Appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America," Boehner said the American people are asking, "Where are the jobs?" and that the Obama White House is "out of touch" with voters. But he also said that "I'm open to the president's ideas."

[Associated Press]

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