House Leaders Request President Obama’s Proposed Legislation
September 9, 2011
President Barack Obama
The White
House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
Thank you for your
address to a Joint Session of the Congress last night, and for presenting your
ideas. We believe creating long-term, sustainable jobs must be the top
priority for elected leaders of both parties, and it is our desire to work with
you to find common ground on steps that can be taken to allow our economy to
grow and to create those jobs. While we have a different vision in terms
of what is needed to boost private-sector job creation in our country, we
believe your ideas merit consideration by the Congress, and believe the American
people expect them to be given such consideration.
We look forward to
receiving legislative text for any of your ideas in a manner that can be scored
by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, and to the upcoming speech you
described last night in which you will detail the offsets that will be needed to
ensure your proposals are paid for.
The House and our
committees will immediately begin the process of reviewing and considering your
proposals. We will examine the impact of your proposals on both short and
long term economic growth and we will identify modifications and additional
ideas that could achieve economic and job growth in a manner that may be more
impactful or effective. For instance, these ideas could include elements
of the multiple bills passed by the House earlier this year to remove government
barriers to private-sector job creation that are currently awaiting action in
the Senate. In addition, the House will continue with the jobs agenda
outlined last month which among other things would provide relief to our
nation’s job creators – especially small businesses – from the high costs of
some of your Administration’s pending regulatory actions
As we are certain your
advisors have told you, not all your ideas should be packaged in a single
legislative vehicle. For instance, due to the structure of Trade Promotion
Authority procedures, passage of the free trade agreements with our allies –
Colombia, Panama and South Korea – is better achieved moving as stand-alone
legislation. We again ask that you send those agreements immediately to
the Congress for our consideration and approval.
We share your desire
for bipartisan cooperation, and assume that your ideas were not presented as an
all-or-nothing proposition, but rather in anticipation that the Congress may
also have equally as effective proposals to offer for consideration. The
American people expect us to bring together the best of both parties' ideas, and
it is our desire to work together to find common ground between your ideas and
ours. The House is committed to working with our Senate colleagues and
your administration to confront our nation’s economic and employment challenges.
Sincerely,
John Boehner
Eric Cantor
Speaker
Majority Leader
Kevin McCarthy
Jeb Hensarling
Majority Whip
Conference Chairman