Posted on 07/22/2011 6:36:44 PM PDT by kristinn
White House officials thought, just hours ago, that they were “very close” to a deal with Republican House Speaker John Boehner. But all of the sudden, the speaker wasn’t returning the president’s phone calls.
“If Speaker Boehner had called back, Americans would have had a deal,” a White House official told reporters after the president announced Boehner had pulled out of negotiations.
These officials said there were “many zones of agreement,” and that cuts to entitlement programs, other than a small disagreement over Medicaid, were “settled.”
The White House said congressional staffers were still calling today to negotiate details, but the speaker was not talking to the president.
On Thursday afternoon, Obama talked with the speaker. The president called again in the evening. That call was not returned.
The White House said the speaker’s office emailed at 3:30 p.m. Friday and said the speaker would call at 5:30 p.m. The president’s office called immediately and asked to talk to the speaker. Boehner did not come to the phone, but did call 5:30 p.m., telling the president he could not continue to negotiate.
According to the White House officials, there were only three major outstanding issues -- the president asking for $400 billion in additional revenue over 10 years, how deep cuts in Medicaid would be, and the speaker’s request that the individual mandate in the health care reform law be eliminated if the government could not approve all elements of the deal.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.abcnews.com ...
From the WH. Childish BS.
Congress is supposed to set the direction and Zer0 to ably administer.
Barbara Streisand
Uh, what’s the phrase again? Is it FUBO?
The MSM is really worried as demonstrated by this and the pile of other old media articles about how Obama was willing to talk and negotiate but Boehner wasn’t.
Let’s hope Boehner doesn’t blink.
So old Pharoah calls in his messengers to tell US he had a deal, BUT now we do not, because his phone calls to continue negotiations were not returned? H E L L O!!!!!
“Uh, what’s the phrase again? Is it FUBO?”
That’s the one.
FUBO FUBAR.
" And if they don't give me my tax increase, I'll hold my breath until I turn blue."
Yes that’s the correct term.
If this part is correct:
“On the revenue side, officials said the two sides had agreed to an increase of $800 billion, which would come from tax reform. The president wanted another $400 billion in revenue, but the officials say he told Boehner that was negotiable.”
Then the other saying is FUJB
The MSM spin will be that Boehner is a spoiled child who can’t get his way, so he throws a tantrum. Count on it.
I love what Mark Steyn called the MSM today: “the court eunuchs of the Obama press”.
Makes zero sense. If Boner wanted a deal he would have called back. Ya think?
“Boehner did not come to the phone, but did call 5:30 p.m., telling the president he could not continue to negotiate.”
WTG Speaker Boehner! Keep pushing the boy king is about to snap.
I can imagine 0bama standing over Boner acting like a condescending ahole.
“and the speaker’s request that the individual mandate in the health care reform law be eliminated if the government could not approve all elements of the deal.”
This is the hardest thing for me to reconcile. WTF is Boehner doing? As it is if the individual mandate is declared unconstitutional, all of Obamacare could be struck down, but take it out of Obamacare and that’s not possible.
Was it a sop to Bachmann and her demand that Obamacare be repealed as part of a deal? I just don’t get it.
the court eunuchs of the Obama press
Love ir, gonna use it.
I do not beleive these negotiations are being done in good faith. Politically-minded people have been predicting for months that the demos want, indeed insist on, a government shutdown, so they can play it as being the repubs fault, with the media spinning it that way, of course. Same playbook as ‘95 - ‘96. Nothing new here. Nothing Boehner can do to prevent it, except cave totally, which would accomplish the same thing for the demos.
" And if they don't give me my tax increase, I'll hold my breath until I turn blue."
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