Larry Summers hits Rep. John Boehner on "punk staffers"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House economic adviser Larry Summers hit back on Thursday at a senior Republican congressional leader's comment that "little punk staffers" are working on U.S. financial reform legislation.

Representative John Boehner, the Republican leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, spoke to bankers at a conference on Wednesday and urged them: "Don't let those little punk staffers take advantage of you and stand up for yourselves."

Boehner told bankers at the conference that even if the Senate produces a reform bill in the next few weeks, it could take a year to merge it with a bill approved by the House in December. That measure passed with no Republican votes.

Summers, a former Treasury secretary, said, "I do not think of the people who worked on this project as little punk staffers ... who need to be stood up to."

Speaking at an event at the National Press Club, Summers urged Congress to act on financial reforms.

Boehner's remark, and Summers' response, marked the latest sharp exchange between the White House and Republicans who have worked closely for months with lobbyists for banks and Wall Street to try to weaken and block reform proposals.

President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are trying to tighten bank and capital market oversight following the worst financial crisis in generations that tipped the economy into a deep recession with global repercussions.

Summers said the banking industry has spent about $1 million in lobbying per member of Congress in recent months and has as many as four lobbyists per member working the issue.

(Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh; Editing by Andrew Hay)