WASHINGTON — In advance of a White House meeting with President Obama, Speaker John A. Boehner on Wednesday issued a statement signed by 150 economists backing House Republicans in rejecting an increase in the federal debt limit without corresponding spending cuts.
“An increase in the national debt limit that is not accompanied by significant spending cuts and budget reforms to address our government’s spending addiction will harm private-sector job creation in America,” said the statement to be made public by the speaker. “It is critical that any debt limit legislation enacted by Congress include spending cuts and reforms that are greater than the accompanying increase in debt authority being granted to the president.”
The speaker’s office noted that those who endorsed the Republican position included Robert Mundell, a Nobel laureate in economics; Michael Boskin of Stanford University, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President George H. W. Bush; former Secretary of State George P. Shultz; and two former directors of the Congressional Budget Office.
“Increasing the debt ceiling without significant spending cuts and budget reforms will send a message to American job creators that we still are not serious about ending Washington’s spending addiction, and this will bring further harm to private-sector job growth in America,” Mr. Boehner said. “We need to enact reforms that will help our economy grow while stopping Washington from spending money it doesn’t have.”
Mr. Boehner staked out the position that an increase in the
debt ceiling would not proceed without a greater level of spending cuts in a speech last month in New York. He also called on a group of economists earlier
this year to bolster the Republican assertion that spending cuts can help foster job creation.
The White House meeting between President Obama and Republican members of the House comes after the House on Tuesday rejected legislation that would have increased the debt limit with no conditions attached. Republicans pushed the proposal though they opposed it and knew it would fail as a way to show that spending cuts have to be tied to any debt limit hike later this year.