Republican House Speaker John Boehner reacted to President Barack Obama’s decision to ask his Jobs Council to find areas of his jobs plan to implement without congressional approval, saying that Congress will “continue” to “control the purse strings.”
TheDC asked Boehner if he agreed with Obama’s idea.
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“Every president wants to ignore the fact that the people have sent 535 people to Washington to represent them. I’ve seen this from every administration that I’ve dealt with since I’ve been here,” Boehner told TheDC during a press conference at the Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters on Capitol Hill.
“The fact is, we’re a nation of laws. We all swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States when we take our oath. My oath is no different than the president’s and neither are any of the members, and the Constitution gives Congress the authority to control the purse strings in our government and we will continue to do so.”
When speaking at a meeting of his Jobs and Competitiveness Council in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Obama said, “We’re not going to wait for Congress. So my instruction to … all the advisers who are sitting around the table is, scour this report, identify all those areas in which we can act administratively without additional congressional authorization, and just get it done.”
The president’s jobs plan failed in the Senate on Tuesday with two Democrats joining Republicans in opposing the legislation.