If spending cuts kill jobs, ‘so be it’: Boehner

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WASHINGTON – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Tuesday showed little concern for the federal job losses that could result from the GOP’s proposed spending cuts.

“In the last two years, under President Obama, the federal government has added 200,000 new federal jobs. If some of those jobs are lost so be it. We’re broke,” Boehner told reporters, according to Talking Points Memo.

“The biggest danger to our country is if we do not act,” the speaker added. “The status quo is shackling the future for our kids and grandkids – that’s why we have to act.”

Republicans have proposed a slew of budget cuts worth $32 billion to a multitude of federal programs.

GOP lawmakers have long insisted that federal spending cuts and job growth go hand in hand, portraying heavy government spending as a prime cause of the economic downturn.

“Where are the jobs?” was an oft-repeated slogan by Boehner during the 2010 midterm election cycle, as he and his colleagues attacked Democrats’ stimulus and other spending programs.

But Boehner’s remarks not only reveal that Republicans accept those two goals may be contradictory, they suggest that the GOP considers spending cuts a higher priority.

As the unemployment rate remains high at well above 9 percent, surveys consistently show that jobs are the top concern on voters minds.

President Barack Obama unveiled his budget this week, also calling for across-the-board cuts to various programs, receiving criticism from progressives and being dismissed as insufficient by Republicans.