Boehner Says Obama's Budget Cuts Don't Go Deep Enough

By Jon E. Dougherty at 14 Feb 2011

(Newsroom America) -- House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday said President Obama's proposed $1.1 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade aren't enough, saying the nation was "broke" and in need of drastic austerity measures.

"Everything is on the table. We’re broke. Let’s be honest with ourselves," he said over the weekend.

In a letter to Obama, the House speaker said the path to prosperity for the U.S. was "liberating our economy from the shackles of out-of-control government spending and big government." The letter was endorsed by 150 economists who also called for immediate spending reductions.

Boehner's comments come as White House Budget Director Jack Lew, in an interview on CNN Sunday, said the president's cuts put the government on track to cut the budget deficit in half by 2012.

"We are reducing programs that are important programs that we care about, and we're doing what every family does when it sits around its kitchen table - we're making the choices about what do we need for the future," he said.

Obama plans to send his spending plan to Congress Monday. The new budget year begins Oct. 1.

Boehner said Republicans are pushing for $61 billion in cuts through September of this year, but Lew didn't say whether the White House would support them.

Liberals in Congress have already voiced opposition to a number of cuts Obama is planning. And some Democrats have said they won't support them.

On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he wasn't "a big fan" of a proposal to cut $2.5 billion from a home energy assistance program for the poor. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., wrote the president to oppose the cut, while Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said it would "have a devastating effect on millions of American families."

"There can be pain, but I want to make sure it’s not just on them. I want to make sure there’s Wall Street pain, there’s Pentagon pain, that there’s wealthy pain," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, told The Hill newspaper.

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