The Hill News

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday that President Obama is inciting class warfare "everyday" as he pushes Congress to pass his jobs package.

"We are not going to engage in class warfare," Boehner said on ABC'S "This Week with Christiane Amanpour."  "[The] president's out there doing it everyday. I, frankly, think it's unfortunate, because our job is to help all Americans, not to pit one set of Americans against another."

Obama, Boehner added, "is clearly trying to do [that]. And it's wrong."

Behind Obama, Democrats have urged Boehner and other GOP leaders to pass the president's $447 billion jobs legislation, which includes funding for infrastructure projects, teachers and first responders, but would also raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans â€" a move that's anathema to conservatives. 

Senate Republicans united to block that bill last month, and House GOP leaders have declined to take it up in the lower chamber.

Boehner pushed back against the notion that Republicans, by opposing the tax hikes, are merely protecting the rich.

"That's very unfair," Boehner said of that characterization. "The top 1 percent pay 38 percent of the income taxes in America. How much more do you want them to pay?"

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