House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement on President Obama’s budget speech today:

“Our country faces serious economic and fiscal challenges.  Americans continue to be disappointed that the president is shrinking from those challenges rather than displaying the courage needed to solve them.  Instead of reaching across the aisle to enact the changes needed to restore America’s prosperity, the president has resorted to distortions and partisan pot-shots, and recommitted himself to policies that have made our country’s debt crisis worse.  He’s so unserious about our country’s problems that he’s offered a budget that failed to garner a single vote in the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate.  And his own party leadership in the Senate hasn’t passed a budget in more than 1,000 days.

“If the president were serious, he would put forward a plan to deal with our debt crisis and save Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for future generations of seniors without raising taxes on small businesses that are struggling in this economy.  Instead, he has chosen to campaign rather than govern, and the debt crisis he is presiding over is only getting worse.

“House Republicans, led by Chairman Ryan, passed a responsible budget that would help put Americans back to work, protect our seniors, close President Obama’s massive budget deficits, and do ‘all of the above’ to address high gas prices.  It makes the tough choices the president refuses to make to address the staggering deficits and debt that are slowing our economic recovery, costing jobs, and threatening to destroy the American dream.  Republicans are committed to the budget we’ve put forward, and committed to solving the serious economic and fiscal challenges our country faces.  It’s time for the president to join us.”

NOTE: The economic policies of President Obama have not only not helped our economy but they have actually made it worse.  Here’s just a few examples:

• 37 Months of 8+ Percent Unemployment.  The White House famously promised that its ‘stimulus’ plan would keep the unemployment rate below eight percent.  But three years of ‘stimulus’ spending has left our country with 37 consecutive months of unemployment above eight percent, where it remains today.

• Another $5 Trillion in Debt.  The president has not only “failed to meet his pledge to cut the deficit in half,” his ‘stimulus’ spending spree has racked up more debt than any president in history, including “four straight years of trillion-dollar-plus deficits.”  In total, the president has added nearly $5 trillion to the debt since he took office, according to the Treasury Department.

• Gas Prices More than Doubled.  Gas prices have more than doubled – now at $3.94 per gallon nationally – on President Obama’s watch. The president’s budget fails to do “all of the above” as promised and continues the policy of blocking, delaying, and rejecting new energy production. He is also pushing for tax hikes that would make gasoline even more expensive.

• A Budget Full of Job-Destroying Tax Hikes.  The president’s budget imposes $1.9 trillion in new taxes on families, small businesses, and job creators – all to fund more wasteful Washington ‘stimulus’ spending.