John Boehner and Eric Cantor: Time and again, we have reached out to President Obama in the hope that he would finally be ready to do what is needed to solve our debt crisis and tackle America's job crisis. The offer still stands. Let's get to work.

John Boehner, R-Ohio, is speaker of the House. Eric Cantor, R-Va., is the House majority leader. 

Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade our creditworthiness is a clarion call to get America's fiscal house in order. The jobs and savings of too many Americans are at stake for Washington to continue ducking the toughest choices.

The American people elected the new House Republican majority with orders to stop Washington from spending money it doesn't have, and we listened. This spring, the House passed a budget that would cut spending by trillions of dollars and encourage private-sector job creation through economic growth — without raising taxes. Among its key components are tax reforms that broaden the base and lower the rates for everyone, while making the tax code more fair by closing loopholes.

Our budget also included real reforms that preserve and strengthen our insolvent entitlement programs, which are the biggest drivers of our debt. These kinds of reforms are "key to long-term fiscal sustainability," according to S&P's report. Unfortunately, the Democrats running Washington rejected both our budget and a "cut, cap and balance" plan the House passed recently that would also save trillions.

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