With Republicans retaining their grasp on the U.S. House last night, House Speaker John Boehner is vowing to press for an overhaul of the tax code to “reinvigorate’’ the economy while cutting federal spending in an effort to reduce the government’s huge deficit.

In an interview last weekend while campaigning in northeast Ohio, Boehner said he hopes to see an end to the gridlock among the House, the Senate and the White House that has made it virtually impossible to agree on measures to reduce the deficit or spark the economy.

“No question that we’d all like to end the gridlock,’’ said Boehner, R-West Chester. “But that means we have to be willing to take on big challenges to find ways to solve those problems.’’

“I think what I need to accomplish is pretty clear,’’ Boehner said. “We’ve got to fix our tax code so that can reinvigorate our economy and put Americans back to work. ‘’

“Secondly, we’ve got to solve our spending problem,’’ he said. “You can’t continue to spend a trillion dollars more than what you take in. It’s immoral — that $16 trillion worth of debt. I think we need to set a national policy to become energy independent. We can do this and we should do this for the national security and to protect the pocketbooks of the American people.’’

But with Obama appearing to win re-election last night and Democrats increasing their hold on the Senate, Boehner may face an uphill battle next year.

Boehner has pledged repeatedly to oppose the president’s efforts to raise income and investment taxes on families earning more than $250,000 a year. All of the 2001 and 2003 income and investment taxes expire at the end of December and Obama has insisted that they be extended for families earning less than $250,000 annually.

As he spoke to a crowd of about 300 Republicans in the northeastern Ohio town of Painesville Saturday night, Boehner sounded like a politician who intends to remain active in Washington.

“I never thought I’d walk away from my business to do this, but I’ve got to tell you what, what I’ve been doing in the Congress is far more important than making a lot more money,’’ Boehner said. “Because what’s more money going to mean if we don’t have a country doing well?’’