Boehner takes up Romney charge on Obama as outsourcer

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) echoed Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign on Thursday as he attacked President Obama over reports that his administration sent federal stimulus money overseas.

Boehner opened his weekly Capitol press conference by demanding an explanation from the president over the reports that foreign companies received funds authorized by the 2009 economic stimulus package.

{mosads}“Americans are not only asking the question, ‘Where are the jobs?’  I think they have a right to know where the hell the Obama administration shipped their tax dollars overseas during a recession here at home,” Boehner said. “I think the president owes every American taxpayer an explanation.”

The Speaker’s criticism is the latest evidence of increased coordination between his office and the Romney campaign, which has been hammering Obama this week over the issue. Republicans are trying to combat the Obama campaign’s criticism of the presumptive GOP nominee over the outsourcing record of Bain Capital, the company he used to run.

Boehner said the comprehensive tax reform Republicans are pursuing would “keep jobs in the U.S. and bring home some of the jobs that have gone overseas.”

The White House defended itself against the outsourcing charge on Wednesday, with press secretary Jay Carney saying it “doesn’t pass the laugh test.”

“The Recovery Act helped create new industries in this country,” Carney noted, adding that the money “went to operations in the United States created for American workers here at home.”