Boehner on Bush on Balanced Budget and Earmark Reform

Via email:

"I was pleased to see that President Bush announced today he will submit a plan to balance the budget in February. I support the President's efforts to balance the budget within five years while making tax cuts for working families permanent and supporting our troops. I also support his efforts to reduce earmarks and bring greater transparency to federal spending. The earmark reforms Republicans enacted last year were intended to be the beginning of earmark reform, not the first and final chapter. We must enact bolder reforms.

"I'm disappointed by early reports indicating House Democrats' rules package for the new Congress may actually retreat from the earmark reforms the House adopted under Republican leadership last September instead of expanding on them. Will the Democrats require public disclosure of all earmarks, including earmarks in tax and authorizing bills, as Republicans did, or will they apply only to earmarks in appropriations bills? Will Democrats retreat from last year's earmark reforms by applying disclosure requirements only to earmarks requested by members for their home states, as the New York Times has reported they are considering? These are among the key questions Democrats must answer when they begin to release details of their lobbying and ethics reform package today.

"We need to restrain spending, balance the budget, and bring greater accountability to the way Washington spends taxpayers' money. If Democrats share our commitment to these objectives, Republicans stand ready to work with them."