DJOU: WE NEED TO CHANGE POLICIES OF “SPEND TO NO END”

Washington, DC — Congressman Charles K. Djou (HI-01) appeared on CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange” this morning to discuss the departure of Larry Summers from the White House, the failed economic policies of this Administration and the current majority in Congress and what needs to be done to achieve economic growth. Clip and excerpts below:

*Click To Watch Clip*

On Larry Summers’ Resignation

“I think he’s a very bright individual, but the problem isn’t whether or not he was a nice person or whether or not he was an intelligent individual. The problem is that the policies he advocated and were adopted by the Obama Administration have clearly failed the American people.

“Along with Orszag, as well as Christina Roemer, what they constructed together—a policy of ‘spend, spend, and then spend some more’ to get America out of this economic rut—has just simply not worked. We have ballooning budget deficits, a national debt which is going to burden the next generation and America is still looking at an unemployment rate well above 9%.”

On what needs to be done

“What the American people need and what the Republican caucus clearly recognizes is we need more investors, we need more wealth creators, we need more job creators here in this nation. The way you do that is you keep your tax rates low, we lower things like the capital gains tax rate and we take a very serious look at spending.

“Spending is out of control in Washington, DC, we cannot continue along this path of creating new government programs. Instead what we need to be doing is creating private sector jobs.”

On the need for bipartisan cooperation

“We have to work in a bipartisan fashion. What the current leadership in the U.S. Congress is engaged in is a very hyper-partisan approach, unwilling to talk to the Republicans. I’m hopeful that after the General Election, we’ll have a change in leadership in Congress.

“But of course, Barack Obama will still be President of the United States. The Republicans will have to find a way to work with President Obama, and I think there is some opportunity to do so. Again, the President is going to have an entirely new economic team, with the departure of Larry Summers…and what’s much more important is that we have somebody who’s going to work in a bipartisan fashion with both Republicans and Democrats and change the policy of ‘spend to no end’ to try and turn around this economy.”

On Timothy Geithner

“I think Timothy Geithner is trying, but he’s not doing a good job, because this economy continues to remain in a rut and unemployment continues to remain far too high. Whether or not Timothy Geithner needs to be replaced is up to the President, but what he needs to do is change the policies of this nation. Right now, what’s happening is wrong and the American people recognize it and they’re going to render their judgment on that in under 45 days on November 2 with the General Election.”

On GOP economic strategy going into midterms

“I think it’s safe to say that the Republicans will be turning away from the failed policies of the current majority in Congress and will, unlike the current majority in Congress, be far more fiscally responsible.

“Look, this year, 2010, this is the very first time in modern American history that the U.S. House of Representatives is not passing a budget. And we’re compounding this fiscally irresponsible behavior. With just a week to go until the start of the new fiscal year for the federal government, we have yet to pass a single appropriations bill. I think this is clearly fiscally irresponsible behavior and things that you can expect to see changed with new leadership in the Congress.”

###

RELATED: Full Text: House Republican Caucus "Pledge to America"