John Boehner News

Boehner Breaks “Read The Bill” Pledge. Again.

2:43 pm EST July 29th, 2011 | Republicans | 66 Comments

After his humiliating failure last night, Speaker Boehner has re-written the GOP’s doomed to fail bill on the debt ceiling. Just hours after its introduction, the bill will be voted on tonight (supposedly, they said the same thing yesterday). So whatever happened to Boehner’s promise that all major bills would be posted online for 72 hours?

This isn’t the first time this has happened with the Keystone Kongress.

Topic: John Boehner

Obama Said No To Cantor’s Can-Kicking

10:15 pm EST July 13th, 2011 | Economy | 33 Comments

I’m no fan of the concessions Obama has offered to the GOP in order to get the debt ceiling raised, but he’s stated over and over again that kicking the can a couple feet down the road just isn’t going to do — yet that’s what the GOP apparently offered up again.

It was the fifth straight day of talks, but the first in which attendees, speaking on background, were willing to admit that steps were taken backwards. According to multiple sources, disagreements surfaced early, in the middle and at the end of the nearly two-hour talks. At issue was Cantor’s repeated push to do a short-term resolution and Obama’s insistence that he would not accept one.

“Eric don’t call my bluff. I’m going to the American people on this,” the president said, according to both Cantor and another attendee. “This process is confirming what the American people think is the worst about Washington: that everyone is more interested in posturing, political positioning, and protecting their base, than in resolving real problems.”

They don’t even seem to know who the heck is in charge over on the GOP side. Is it Boehner? Cantor? Or, more likely, people like Limbaugh?

Hell, even with the blue dogs jammed in her side, Nancy Pelosi got bills through the House. Boehner can’t even get a lightbulb bill passed.

Topic: Eric Cantor, John Boehner, President Obama

Avoiding The Shutdown Of The Government Was Good… For John McCain!

4:00 am EST April 9th, 2011 | Politics | 66 Comments

Obama President Obama has brokered a deal between the Democratic-run Senate and the Republican-run House that avoids a shutdown of the federal government, while also stripping the bill of issues such as Planned Parenthood funding and decisions about the EPA’s authority.

Yet somehow, I’m seeing from some – particularly Ezra Klein, who should honestly know better – that this was a bad deal for the President.

On policy, of course these budget cuts targeted at programs that assist the poor and middle class suck. But they were always going to suck. The minute the House of Representatives flipped from Democratic to Republican, anyone without giant stores of money had a target at their back. The Republicans negotiated their way to a $39 billion cut.

But let us remember that these are the same Republicans who campaigned on cutting $100 billion from the budget. Just a couple months ago, conservative blogs were despairing that the cuts had been sliced down to $78 billion.

And John Boehner, wily trickster that he is, has made an agreement – which probably does not have the support of his caucus, possibly needing Democratic help – that cuts that ransom demand in half. I can only imagine that being described as a victory for Boehner at a Beltway party and nowhere else outside of the 495 loop.

What did the polls show that Democrats and Independents wanted out of these negotiations? A compromise that kept the doors open on our government. And that’s what we got. Faced with a fundamentally flawed budget process thanks to the outcome of the November elections, President Obama presided over a bipartisan result that avoided the attempt to scuttle women’s health issues and environmental concerns. From a political perspective, he will have signed into law a cut in spending the year before his re-election as the unemployment rate decreases.

It was enough to prompt Tea Party Nation to claim they will primary Boehner, while base conservatives on the depraved Free Republic gnashed their teeth and made the following statements: “GOP sells out all GOP sucker voters!,” “Cowards, more interested in keeping their jobs then doing what’s right for the country.,” and “The GOP are the modern day Whigs.”

This sentiment goes on for quite a few pages.

This was a negotiating process in which voices of the far right such as Allan West and Michele Bachmann advised retreat for the GOP.

Obama and Reid were operating in an environment infected by the Tea Party House, and secured a deal that averted shutdown and showed the President to be the adult here. Yet a few people seem to think this is the kind of thing that is good news for the right.

As a failed vice-presidential candidate once asked: In what respect, Charlie?

Topic: John Boehner, President Obama, U.S. Senate, US House

John Boehner On Job Losses: “So Be It”

10:27 am EST February 16th, 2011 | Republicans | 49 Comments

And with that, John Boehner tells the truth about what conservatives think about jobs.

During his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Boehner claimed that Mr. Obama has added 200,000 federal workers since he took office (a figure that has been disputed), and shrugged at the idea that Republican efforts to slash government spending would put many of them out of work.

“If some of those jobs are lost in this, so be it,” Mr. Boehner said. “We’re broke. It’s time for us to get serious about how we’re spending the nation’s money.”

Topic: John Boehner

CBO: GOP Health Care Repeal (H.R. 2) Would Increase Deficit $145 Billion

9:58 am EST January 6th, 2011 | Republicans | 14 Comments

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has an analysis of the GOP’s bill to repeal health care reform. In addition to the very real effect of re-introducing the preexisting condition and eliminating health care for children, the repeal (which will go nowhere and is a waste in time and political theater from the GOP for the base) would increase the deficit:

As a result of changes in direct spending and revenues, CBO expects that enacting H.R. 2 would probably increase federal budget deficits over the 2012–2019 period by a total of roughly $145 billion, plus or minus the effects of technical and economic changes that CBO and JCT will include in the forthcoming estimate. That figure consists of the following two components:

• About $130 billion, representing the net reduction in deficits over the 2012–2019 period expected to result from the health care provisions of the enacted legislation (as estimated by CBO and JCT last March), plus

• About $15 billion, representing the reduction brought about by the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 in the estimated cost of subsidies to be provided through the insurance exchanges through 2019.

It continues:

Relative to current law, enacting H.R. 2 would, CBO estimates, increase federal budget deficits in the decade following 2019; similarly, the legislation would increase budget deficits in the decade following 2021 and in subsequent years.

Topic: CBO, Health Care, John Boehner

Boehner Flashback: Handing Out PAC Checks On The Floor Of The House

9:23 am EST January 5th, 2011 | Republicans | 3 Comments

John Boehner

In case, in the middle of the media whitewash, you forgot the sort of person incoming speaker John Boehner is:

A member of the House Republican leadership team admitted Friday he distributed a tobacco PAC’s campaign checks on the House floor, but said he’ll never do it again.

Watchdog groups said the practice is legal but condemned it as outrageous, nonetheless.

GOP Conference Chairman John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he stopped handing out the checks after being questioned about the practice by two freshmen who’d heard about the handoff on the House floor.

“They were appalled by it,” said Boehner. “I thought, `Yeah, I can imagine why somebody would be upset. It sure doesn’t look good.’

“It’s not an excuse, but the floor is the only place you get to see your colleagues,” he said in a telephone interview from Ohio. “It was a matter of convenience.

“You make a mistake, admit it and go on. I just feel bad about it.”

Topic: John Boehner, US House

What Liberal Media? Lesley Stahl Edition

10:33 am EST December 13th, 2010 | Media | 37 Comments

Lesley Stahl just gushes so hard over serial tool John Boehner it makes you want to vomit.

Again, if the media is liberal they’re doing a piss-poor job of doing it.

Topic: 60 Minutes, John Boehner, Lesley Stahl

Does John Boehner Have A Tanning Addiction?

3:06 pm EST August 8th, 2010 | Republicans | 26 Comments

I honestly tend to refrain from making quips about the physical attributes of politicians, because what they believe is far more dangerous. That said, holy cow, why is John Boehner making himself so orange? He’s past Oompah Loompah at this stage!

John Boehner

I think the minority leader has an addiction to tanning. Granted with the new tanning tax, you could argue that there’s a stimulative effect…

Topic: John Boehner, US House

Boehner & House GOP Prep Lobbyists To Write Legislation Again

11:51 pm EST July 8th, 2010 | Republicans | 11 Comments

boehner It’s like Tom DeLay with a tan.

Roll Call obtained a letter from Boehner’s office to leaders and lobbyists for the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and about two dozen other business groups inviting them to a forum on the Hill to discuss “ways the business community can be an important part of the discussion on America Speaking Out as House Republicans listen and then form a governing agenda.”

Topic: John Boehner, US House