House Speaker John Boehner said President Barack Obama’s jobs plan would do little to get the economy moving again because “job creators in America are basically on strike.”

Businesses aren’t hiring or expanding because they see “a triple threat” of excessive regulation, a tax code that discourages investment, and “a spending binge” that has led to a federal debt crisis, Boehner said.

Boehner spoke today to the Economics Club of Washington, D.C., a week after Obama outlined his jobs plan to a joint session of Congress. The speaker’s message was that fundamental reforms, not “short-term gimmicks,” are needed in order to give businesses confidence in the economy’s future.

On regulation, Boehner noted the Obama administration has 219 regulations in the works that will cost the economy at least $100 million each.

“Is it wise to be doing all of this now?” he asked.

He thinks Obama should call a cabinet meeting and tell his agency heads that, until further notice, they shouldn’t do anything that would impede job creation.

“If they’re not focused on that, they ought to be fired,” Boehner said.

On taxes, Boehner said Obama’s proposed tax breaks for hiring aren’t going to convince businesses to add more workers if mandates from Washington cost businesses more than the value of the tax credit. Plus, the tax code needs a complete overhaul, with fewer special tax breaks, not more of them, he said.

“It strikes me as odd that at a time when it’s clear that the tax code needs to be fundamentally reformed, the first instinct out of Washington is to come up with a host of new tax credits that make the tax code more complex,” Boehner said.

The speaker said he hopes the joint House-Senate committee that has been assigned the task of finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years will also lay the groundwork for future tax reform. Tax increases are “off the table” in the deficit reduction plan because they would “destroy jobs,” Boehner said.

The committee’s only options for deficit reduction are spending cuts and reforms to entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security, he said.

Boehner said he’s optimistic that the committee will reach an agreement by its November 23 deadline. The alternative—across-the-board spending cuts—is “so ugly no one wants to go there,” he said.

As for Obama’s jobs plan, Boehner said there “might be some common ground” on some pieces of it, and he expects congressional committees will hold hearings on the plan. But he said it’s too early to say whether the president’s proposals will be acted on by the special deficit committee or separately by Congress.

Boehner said he has a good relationship with Obama, even though they “come from two different worlds.”

The speaker grew up with 11 brothers and sisters and worked in his family’s tavern while growing up. These experiences prepared him for his job as House speaker, he noted.

His big family was “chaos,” he said, “the same thing I deal with every day.”

Working in a bar helped him “learn to deal with every jackass who comes in the door.”

Boehner said he always wanted to be a salesman and even had his own sales and marketing business. He ended up in politics after becoming involved in a neighborhood homeowners’ association. Next thing he knew, he was in Congress.

“This, too, could happen to you,” he warned.

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Kent Hoover is the Washington bureau chief for bizjournals.