GOP Hits Obama On Housing Push

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters Tuesday that the White House is going down the wrong path in its response to the foreclosure crisis, noting that the only surefire solution is economic recovery.

“I believe that it’s important if we’re really going to help out housing, we need to get our economy going again, get more people back to work, and create more demand for housing around our country,” Boehner said during a press conference with the Republican leadership Tuesday.

“We’re all concerned about the mortgage problems and the state of housing in America,” Boehner added, noting that the House will review whether Obama can carry out his decision via executive order, as planned. “The administration has tried in the past to pass various plans over the years to alleviate some of the issues which, according to Boehner, none have worked.”

The GOP leadership also took President Obama and Senate Democrats to task for not moving forward with 15 pieces of legislation House Republicans say will help create jobs.

“This country cannot wait for Obama to get off the campaign trail,” House Maority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, poking fun at the White House’s new “We can’t wait” mantra.

One bill that Republicans paid close attention to was the repeal of the withholding tax, which temporarily keeps 3 percent of what the government owes to contractors in order to provide an incentive for completing work and preventing fraud. Boehner argued that it hurts businesses by being needlessly complex.

Boehner closed Tuesday’s conference by urging Obama to “stand up and take a position” within his party over efforts to pass a Chinese currency manipulation bill.

“The President of the United states gets elected to lead the entire country, and the key point here is to lead.  Wheres the leadership?” Boehner said, calling the proposed legislation “dangerous.”