John Boehner To Kathleen Parker: 'We're Broke' (VIDEO)

John Boehner visited CNN's "Parker Spitzer" Wednesday to discuss Obama's State of the Union address, and he didn't hesitate to cut right to the chase.

Kathleen Parker opened their conversation by asking, "The president kept saying this is a 'Sputnik moment' ... what kind of moment would you say we're in right now?"

"Well, if you really want to talk about what the 'Sputnik moment' is," he replied, "it's the fact that we're broke. And American people know we're broke."

Boehner continued by suggesting both parties come together to discuss "an array of solutions" with the American people, but failed to respond when pressed about whether cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security should be part of the fix.

Also during the segment, Boehner backtracked on a suggestion he made last year that raising the retirement age could be a possible solution to revamping Social Security.

"I made a mistake when I did that, because I think having the conversation about how big the problem is is the first step," he said. "And once the American people understand how big the problem is, then you can begin to outline an array of possible solutions."

HuffPost's Sam Stein reported on what Boehner had to say about the matter last summer:

"We also know these programs are unsustainable in their current form," said the Ohio Republican. Asked specifically if he supports raising the retirement age to, say, 70, Boehner replied: "There are a lot of options on how you solve these, but I don't want to put the cart before the horse."

This wasn't the first time Boehner had broached the idea of raising Social Security's retirement age. The Minority Leader offered the same suggestion in an interview in late June. Back then, Democrats jumped on the remark, arguing that it was (one) not based in a realistic assessment of Social Security's solvency and (two) insensitive to those people who worked all their lives with an eye towards having a financially-stable retirement. It would be far from surprising if the same arguments are made in the days ahead.

WATCH (via Mediaite):

Comments

[68Namvet]

01:21 PM on 01/31/2011

Well, republican's golden boy of economics, Paul Ryan, presented his plan to get us on the road to "fiscal conservatism". Finally, the numbers are in. If we follow Ryan's plans to reduce Social Security and Medicare benefits, cut spending, and keep taxes at 19% of GDP - IT WILL BALANCE THE BUDGET!

Problem is - It will add $62 trillion to the national debt and the budget will not be balanced until 2063.

Now that's a "fiscal conservati­ve" plan ya gotta love!

[FatFeline]

09:42 PM on 01/30/2011

It would be refreshing to hear Obama say, "I made a mistake."

[68Namvet]

11:53 AM on 01/31/2011

Actually, he has said that several times. It was bush who could never think of any mistake he made.

[MikeWebster]

08:59 PM on 01/30/2011

I'd like to see Boemer and the other Republicans running a shop. As soon as some new competition moved in next door and took away some of their business, they would sack half the staff and get rid of half their inventory in order to reduce costs, and so guarantee the loss of any remaining customers.

You have to spend money to make money. The money spent should not be on further enriching the American super rich, or invading more countries. It should be on infrastructure, and education to move the American economy to a smarter and more competitive footing.

The Sputnik moment refers to when America was beaten to space by Russia. America accepted the challenge, and certainly became the preeminent power in space. The current Sputnik moment is about American production and competitiveness dropping at the same time other powers like China are improving. The challenge is to reverse the decline that has been caused by Republican and conservative democrat policies over many years, and make very real changes to the general education levels, and technological basis of American industry.

[wardropper]

08:49 PM on 01/30/2011

Backtracks on contentious issue?

Just watch him make the same mistake again next month.

[bluguy8]

05:40 PM on 01/30/2011

yes you did and it called drinking

[Kenyatta J Yamel]

05:28 PM on 01/30/2011

stop the presses: admitting he made a mistake.

[Jeany]

05:25 PM on 01/30/2011

This is the interview where both parties revealed that neither could recognize a discussion of exceptionalism when the speaker didn't use the word exceptionalism, isn't it? It follows that both lack higher order cognitive skills, fair to say.

I would not want to appear on national prime time television and give such a vivid demonstration of such a lack of basic intellectual capacity. I'm embarrassed for both of them.

[Jeany]

05:15 PM on 01/30/2011

Are we really broke, or just in an enormous hole Republicans started digging for the country when they elected Ronald Reagan?

Remember when we boomers started paying double the payroll tax, in effect pre-paying our own retirements, when the insurance program was intended to be pay-as-you-go? Republicans offset the savings with tax reductions for the well off and wealthy, piling on the deficit, which only slowed down under Clinton. The person from the Reagan administration most associated with the economic path, the infamous "trickle down" man disavowed the policy and the thinking behind it before Reagan left office, yet Republicans still cling to their fantasy that a modern nation can thrive economically with a low flat tax.

[BlueGreen55]

03:48 PM on 01/30/2011

Darn it. Now I can't unequivocably say the Republicans never admit they're wrong. Just 99% of the time now. I am mad I have to add extra words to my anti-Republican rants now. :)

[Ordinary Citizen]

03:03 PM on 01/30/2011

Here are some things that can be done first...before you strangle our old, disabled and sick...cut spending on all the wars to zero, military weapons budget, zero, tax the rich appropriately, cut all your perks, tax the big banks, and make them pay back every cent stolen, cut spending to the private armies, cut the perks to oil companies and other big business perks, cut medical research with no results, cut spending to Haliburton, cut money given to other countries that use our money for military support then after all that talk about cuts for death to the elderly, sick and disabled.

[Purcy]

02:17 PM on 01/30/2011

I am continually amazed at the number of politicians who refer to Social Security as an "Entitlement Program" and are so quick to state that part of the solution to the huge deficit this country is experiencing is somehow, in good part, due to Social Secuirty. Social Security is not an entitlement program. I paid into social security for nearly 50 years before I began to draw social security benefits. My employers matched the contributions which I made. Tell me, how can that be an entitlement? Further, I pay for Medicare - granted, Medicare is a great deal and I would happily pay more even though I am not wealthy. But Social Security and Medicare are two programs that are immediately answered as solutions to the deficit. One of the things being proposed to 'fix' social security is to raise the retirement age. Right. So those who have been doing hard manual labor for years, whose joints are being replaced on record number can look forward to complete body part replacement if they want to be able to move about after retirement. In the meantime, have any of the Washington elite proposed a cut to the retirement benefits they will receive on leaving Washington? Have they proposed cutting subsidies to 'big' agriculture (not talking small farms), big oil, corporations (some of who pay little or no taxes because of loopholes), and the pharmaceutical companies?

Let's agree to do this: Let's make Washington find the real problems and deal with them.

[Libgirl746]

12:56 PM on 01/30/2011

OK, Mr. Speaker. You have told us, the ''American people'', what we don't need to do to create jobs. Now just tell us specifically what your party WILL do to create those jobs. We are tired of the generalities...such as Palin's ''common sense solutions, your own references to what the ''American people'' want. I often wonder where these American people live. I know a lot of people and not one has told me that they are worried about budgets, deficits and all that stuff. They want to know: Where are the jobs?

[68Namvet]

01:51 PM on 01/30/2011

Don't you understand­. The very wealthy "jobs creators" just got their promised tax cuts extended for two years. so of course, nothing will happen for two years. After that, the GOP will run on making the tax cuts permanent, repealing health care (again), and cutting spending on all those worthless "entitleme­nt" programs we've paid for and are entitled to (like SS and Medicare) - claiming that then there will be jobs.

Now, the rest of the fantasy goes:

And then the very wealthy will open factories, start hiring again, 3 shifts at every factory, one shift to make the products no one can afford, one shift to take the products apart, and one shift to re-stock the shelves for the first shift to re-make the products - because we all know that the very wealthy will create jobs because - well - they promised!

And then Santy Claus will deliver a shiny red car to every little boy and girl and we'll all live happily ever after - the end!

[Purcy]

02:19 PM on 01/30/2011

:) In Oprah style "You get a car, and you get a car"...

[Conservador-Rebelde]

03:51 PM on 01/30/2011

Simple answer:
The long-lasting viable jobs are NOT in the public sector, but rather the private...

Solution? Stop over-funding a government that was never designed to be a part of the economy.

[LeftRight]

07:55 PM on 01/30/2011

Wrong. You're right that the VAST majority of the long-lasting viable jobs are in the private sector, but you're wrong that the government PREVENTS those jobs from forming.

The fact of the matter is that the government has a large part to play in both creating those jobs, and in sustaining the economy of the United States when those jobs aren't there due to a recession the depths of which we only see every several decades at LEAST!

[shukurac]

12:22 PM on 01/30/2011

End the wars and pull our soldiers out...budget woes solved.

[poaster]

09:45 AM on 01/30/2011

Where are the Jobs?

[IamfromTexas]

10:14 AM on 01/30/2011

Obama has been promising them for 2 years. I am wondering the same thing. what happened to the shovel ready projects that would bring all the jobs?

[NHGranite]

10:52 AM on 01/30/2011

Can you actually back you what you are saying here. In two years, more jobs created then the entire 8 years of the previous admin. Prove me wrong. On the other hand, you ARE from Texas and can write your own textbooks without basis in reality.

BTW, NH had shovel ready jobs and we really made out on that deal!

[rgateman]

11:50 AM on 01/30/2011

Talk to yer gubernater Perry that turned jobs down. He bragged about it on the TV machine also too.

[calimom123]

02:18 PM on 01/30/2011

Gosh I know. If the folks benefitting from the historically unprecedented tax cuts the Bush enacted hadn't taken all the money, then offshored jobs, then gotten bailouts... there might be more jobs. They are sitting on mountains of profits.

Obama's trying, and the stimulus has worked some, but not enough. Private industry, that is so governmentally propped up, needs to kick in.

[MidwestHeart]

07:30 AM on 01/30/2011

So the 'family' member who spent all the family wealth (on immature impulses like greed and war) wants everyone else to pay the price while they get an increase in their allowance. No health care from granny, no college for junior and no clean air and food for anyone (after all, regulations are 'job crushing'--when will someone write about how many jobs are created through protective regulations?).