Ohio Governor John Kasich will deliver the Weekly Republican Address on Saturday, August 20, 2011

Washington (Aug 18) House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today announced that Ohio Governor John Kasich will deliver the Weekly Republican Address on Saturday, August 20, 2011. Gov. Kasich will talk about how his administration’s success closing the largest budget shortfall in Ohio’s history without raising taxes offers lessons for Washington. Working together to make tough fiscal choices, remove government barriers to job creation, and institute real, confidence-boosting reforms – like a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution – will be the focus of Kasich’s address. A former chairman of the House Budget Committee, Kasich helped lead the charge for the Balanced Budget Amendment in the mid-1990s, when it came within one vote of heading to the states for ratification.

In making the announcement, Boehner noted that Ohio recently had its credit rating upgraded by Standard & Poor’s. An editorial in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal praised the Kasich Administration’s efforts: “While Uncle Sam was having its debt downgraded, Ohio and Florida both got upgrades from Standard & Poor's in July as a result of their improved fiscal management. In its report on Ohio, the rating agency attributed its upgrade to AA+ stable from AA+ negative to the Buckeye State's budget reforms. Governor John Kasich pushed through a budget that closed a roughly $8 billion deficit without raising taxes. … These shifts in state fortune are all the more remarkable because they come despite the end of the federal stimulus cash that began in 2009.”

“Governor Kasich has brought fiscal common sense back to the Buckeye State and the American people deserve the opportunity to learn more about how he did it,” Speaker Boehner said. “Washington could certainly learn a thing or two from Ohio, where leaders are working together to balance the budget by cutting spending instead of raising taxes and keeping the focus on creating a better environment for job creation. I look forward to hearing what Governor Kasich has to say on behalf of our state.”

Kasich was sworn in as Ohio’s 69th governor on January 10, 2011. He served as a member of Congress from central Ohio for 18 years and, as the chairman of the House Budget Committee, he led the effort to balance the federal budget for the first time since 1969 and helped enact historic welfare reform. After leaving Congress in 2000 and running for President, Kasich worked as a managing director in the Investment Banking Division of Lehman Brothers, where he helped companies secure the resources they needed to succeed and create jobs. Kasich, 59, is a 1974 graduate of The Ohio State University and lives in Westerville with his wife, Karen Waldbillig Kasich, and their twin daughters, Emma and Reese. Visit http://governor.ohio.gov for Gov. Kasich’s full biography.

The text and the audio of the Weekly Republican Address will be available on Friday, August 19 at 3:00 p.m. EST on http://speaker.gov. It will be embargoed until Saturday, August 20 at 6:00 a.m. EST, at which time it will be available here for viewing and here for downloading.

TEXT CREDIT: Speaker of the House John Boehner Contact: H-232 The Capitol Washington, DC 20515 P (202) 225-0600 F (202) 225-5117

IMAGE CREDIT: Governor of Ohio, John R. Kasich