Posted on 11/10/2012 6:19:16 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(CNSNews.com) -- Although the Republican-dominant House of Representatives controls the federal purse strings, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that Tuesday’s election victory by President Barack Obama changed how he will approach the GOP goal of repealing the health reform law, saying that the president’s reelection made it “the law of the land.”
“Well, I think the election changes that. It’s pretty clear that the president was re-elected. Obamacare is the law of the land,” Boehner told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in an interview Thursday when asked if the House GOP would still make repeal its mission.
However, Boehner also said that the law was still “on the table,” noting that he still considered it bad policy and that it was not off limits as he begins negotiations with Obama over key budgetary issues.
As House Speaker, Boehner can prevent any funding for Obamacare or any aspect of it through amendments to funding legislation, to a continuing resolution, or by simply not allowing a floor vote on the funding.
“I think there are parts of the health care law that are going to be very difficult to implement and very expensive and, at a time when we’re trying to find a way to create a path toward a balanced budget, everything has to be on the table,” he said in the ABC interview.
When pressed, Boehner clarified that no decision had been made yet over which parts of the law would be included in negotiations, saying that parts of the law could be on the table.
“There are certainly maybe parts of it that we believe need to be changed – we may do that, no decisions at this point,” he said.
Boehner repeated during the interview that he viewed Obama’s reelection and Republicans’ failure to achieve a Senate majority as a mandate from the American public for the two parties to work together, saying that it was simply the hand he was dealt.
“I may not like the five cards that were dealt to me but those are the cards I’ve got in my hand,” he said. “Now my job on behalf of the American people is to find a way to work with my Democrat colleagues and our Democrat President to solve America’s problems. If there was one mandate that came out of the election, it was [to] find a way to work together to address our problems.”
Boehner’s office clarified his remarks about repeal of Obamacare on Thursday, after excerpts of the interview were released to the public. His official Twitter account posted a message saying that he remained committed to “full repeal” of the law.
“ObamaCare is the law of the land, but it is raising costs and hurting #smallbiz. Our goal remains #fullrepeal,” Boehner tweeted.
Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith also clarified the Speaker’s intentions on Obamacare, saying that House Republicans were committed to repealing the law despite the reelection of its namesake president.
“While Obamacare is the law of the land, it is costing us jobs and threatening our health care,” Smith told the liberal website Talking Points Memo. “Speaker Boehner and House Republicans remain committed to repealing the law, and he said in the interview it would be on the table.”
Obama’s reelection has made repeal of the law extremely difficult for Republicans after they failed to secure a Senate majority and a President who would sign repeal legislation. Obama has repeatedly stated that he has no intention of negotiating over the law and Senate Democrats have refused to vote on multiple repeal bills sent to them by the House.
The Tea Party should target this RINO SOB and do everything in their power to send his sorry ass back to Ohio.
My friend’s husband was told by his doctor that the doctor will be penalized (financially, by the Government) if he puts a stent into anyone over 60. So under Obamacare, it appears that 60 is the cutoff for life-saving surgeries. I am over 60; it was nice knowing you all.
Compare this to Reid’s statement that the Democrats will never work with Romney and one can understand why we are where we are. It’s time for a third party.
Ashley Wilkes has spoken. What a wimp.
The Tea Party should start a nationwide campaign for a tax revolt. We stop filing our tax returns, businesses stop withholding, and we starve this beast.
Eff them, I won’t pay their MARXIST tax. I’ve drawn my line in the sand.
Oh, and I won’t be hiring any friggin liberals either. They want jobs? Go to your sugar daddy.
He’s right it is the law of the land, and there is nothing he or anyone else can do about it - you can’t knock him for it.
Maybe more people should have shown up to vote
The House will be voting for a new speaker in a few weeks. Isn’t there some way we could mount a campaign to get rid of Bonehead?
And then they went out to play golf
They don’t want jobs. They want you to pay their way.
what is he supposed to say. It was passed by congress, signed by the president and has withstood it’s first SC challenge. That sounds like a law to me.
If all this people that bitch about Obamacare actually voted for the guy that promised to repeal it, we would have a different president in January. I don’t blame Obama, I don’t blame Pelousy or Dingy Harry, I blame the people that voted for this or didn’t vote against it. The talking point was “people don’t for against a person, they need to vote for a person”.. well, we had the opportunity to vote for the person that more closely supported the founders values and most of them stayed home.
I’m all for not paying taxes. I’m changing my w-4 on Monday as a start.
..I have urged my Congressman, Jeb Hensarling to consider someone else...but I am not holding my breath.
I fear that all these R "leaders" are selling us down the river as fast as the D's.
It is disappointing and disguising.
THERE IS NO "MANDATE" for the R's to "reach across the isle"!
If there is gridlock, so be it. The very least that comes out of Congress doing nothing is that our Life, Liberty and Property are relatively safe for the time being.
....see, the easy thing that the HR could do right now is to start removing funding from the Executive Branch of govt...but nooooooo...they go along with every "continuing resolution", and the Obama Admin is flying high...
..BTW...if there is somebody out there who can explain to us why the HR cannot defund any branch or agency of the Fed Govt...I want to hear it.
The thing I fear is that they CAN....but WILL NOT.
I don’t have any “dependents” so I get royally screwed. I’m thinking by January I might have triplets. All with nice shiny SSN’s.
“The Tea Party should target this RINO SOB and do everything in their power to send his sorry ass back to Ohio.”
He will just run as a democrat and win back the seat on the other side.
All businesses need to start laying people off, there needs to be a massive taxpayer protests in DC with millions of conservatives on the ground, they need to stay there until they back down or start firing on us.
You are absurd.
And you think a new speaker will lie to you and tell you Obamacare is NOT the law of the land?
The SC defined the mandate as a tax which made is constitutional. That's the law of the land.
Now you can work to repeal parts of it still. Which is exactly what Boehner says can still be done.
Protests don’t work. Voting doesn’t work. Blogging and emailing doesn’t work.
Real action is what we need. None of this pussy footing around anymore.
This is WAR.
This guy should be flushed down the toilet.
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