I knew we were finished 10 seconds after he was elected Speaker.
House Republicans, do yourself and the country a favor: Do NOT re-elect him as Speaker.
Posted on 01/02/2013 2:25:55 PM PST by jazusamo
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is signaling that at least one thing will change about his leadership during the 113th Congress: He’s telling Republicans he is done with private, one-on-one negotiations with President Obama.
During both 2011 and 2012, the Speaker spent weeks shuttling between the Capitol and the White House for meetings with the president in the hopes of striking a grand bargain on the deficit.
Those efforts ended in failure, leaving Boehner feeling burned by Obama and, at times, isolated within his conference.
In closed-door meetings since leaving the “fiscal cliff” talks two weeks ago, lawmakers and aides say the Speaker has indicated he is abandoning that approach for good and will return fully to the normal legislative process in 2013 — seeking to pass bills through the House that can then be adopted, amended or reconciled by the Senate.
"He is recommitting himself and the House to what we've done, which is working through regular order and letting the House work its will,” an aide to the Speaker told The Hill.
The shift could have immediate ramifications as Congress heads into its next showdown over raising the debt ceiling and replacing steep automatic cuts to defense and domestic spending that are now set to take effect in March. It will also impact other presidential priorities like immigration reform and gun control.
Republican lawmakers say they expect the House majority to draft and pass its own debt-ceiling proposal, which would then add pressure on the Democratic leadership in the Senate.
For Boehner in particular, it will be easier said than done.
The Speaker is ending his first term weaker than at any point during his two years with the gavel. He was unable to win enough Republican votes for his own fiscal cliff fallback plan last month, and in the final hours of the 112th Congress, watched as more than half of his conference — including his two top lieutenants in leadership — voted against the Senate’s tax compromise. Earlier Tuesday, party leaders failed to garner enough GOP support to amend the Senate bill.
And on Wednesday, he faced withering criticism from Republican House members and Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) over his decision to scrap a vote on legislation providing relief to states damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
Republicans in both the House and Senate are determined to confront Obama over the debt ceiling, despite the president’s repeated vows not to negotiate with Congress over increasing the nation’s borrowing authority.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued a statement Wednesday making it clear that Republicans view the debt ceiling increase as an “immediate opportunity” to achieve significant spending cuts.
When Obama told Boehner in November that he wanted an increase in the debt ceiling as part of the fiscal cliff package, the Speaker replied: “Things that you want in life tend to come with a cost.”
Boehner and his aides have said the Speaker remains committed to a principle he first articulated in 2011 — that any increase in the debt limit must be accompanied by spending cuts and reforms that exceed the amount of new borrowing authority.
The Speaker is also expected to resist Obama’s push for another increase in taxes to offset the restoration of spending cuts from sequestration. “As far as we're concerned, the tax issue is off the table,” the Boehner aide said.
Conservatives, however, are likely to want even more.
“I’m looking for dramatic and drastic spending reductions,” Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) said Wednesday.
The influential editorial page of the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday urged Boehner to “from now on cease all backdoor negotiations and pursue regular legislative order.” Linking to the article, a top adviser to Boehner posted on Twitter: “That’s the plan.”
Another aide cautioned that Boehner is not cutting off all contact with the president. "It doesn't mean the Speaker isn't going to meet with the president or talk to the president" when appropriate, the aide said.
Duncan said he was encouraged by Boehner’s commitment in recent days to return to “regular order,” saying it was imperative that the House not simply accept bills driven by Democrats in the White House and the Senate.
“We have a Republican majority. We need to pass Republican bills out of the House,” Duncan said.
Hey Boehner, LIAR! This BS will not fly when we look at your record, and we all know you're
trying to save your own ass from being unelected Speaker.
You cannot wait for the eleventh hour to become conservative and fake having
your balls back from Pelosi's purse. And as far as telling Reid to go F-himself,
to late, and I don't believe you did. It's a gimmick to get our support, back. /flip..
/Flame off
I knew we were finished 10 seconds after he was elected Speaker.
House Republicans, do yourself and the country a favor: Do NOT re-elect him as Speaker.
I don’t understand why people give Obama all this supposed ‘power’. Dealing with him could not possibly be easier. It’s just a lack of will on the part of any in the GOP.
Tell him ‘NO’ and do not give him a red cent for anything. If you have to, spend some campaign money sent to Romney’s failed fiasco and buy 1/2 hour of Prime Time and tell people why.
Very simple. Very doable and ALL constitutional.
Now if any of the excuse-makers rampant on FR lately and still bitterly clinging to Bhoner style governance can argue why the above is incorrect, please entertain us with your spin.
The GOP held states are the only ones holding the line against Obama these days. I can’t imagine how bad things would be if we didn’t have nearly half of them.
Those etates are held by people who believe in constitutional governance. Not the party and politics of compromise.
Those people worth their salt will govern as well or as poorly (probably much better) without pressure to bend. They are not just going to disappear. We lost West and others because the GOP gave their seats to dems through inaction and in one case active campaigning against their own guy. That is not a winning party. It’s a Democrat party.
He’s so full of it. He will cave and force the rest of the GOP to fall in line if they don’t remove him tomorrow. Even Cantor would be better.
Aw, the beaten wife finally gets a glimmer after being knocked around the room fifty times.
What a pathetic moron
Tired of the one on one and is going to hold out until he can have a complete circle.......just what I am thinking
I support that completely.
Bhoner and the national level GOP does not. Their silence results in our freedoms and rights being stripped. If they did, then where is it? That’s my point. The GOP is nothing but a hindrance. These men went against the go along get along BS without a peep of support from the national level.
They would do the same without the albatross around their necks and again, likely better. They were elected by people voting for them, not the GOP.
Conservatives need a new political home, and this is one of the many, finite reasons why the left will keep on winning many future elections to come, if not for always. The GOP is dead, and U.S. conservatism is on life support. The House will be taken over by the D’s, after the ‘14 November general election, and all other political offices that the R’s control will be taken over by the D’s, soon enough. The stupid/ignorant voters dominate the total voter rolls, already, and several million illegal immigrants will, successfully, be added to the total pro-leftist voter rolls, too, for many years to come. Prove me wrong on all of these things, please.
Dear Speaker,
Do you not remember Reagan and Bush tried with the Democrats what you did with the same results. Pelosi will gladly remind you. Are you so arrogant that you thought you were special? I just got taxed so I think you should retire. You got used and we all knew you would. And you don’t have the fight anymore. We’re all looking for someone in the GOP to step up but nobody is asking for the ball.
Thank you mr. speaker.
I wish I had thought of this sooner, but, Boehner should have allowed a palace coup several weeks ago, with Allen West becoming the Speaker to negotiate with DumBO. Allen would have been able to eat ZerO for breakfast. West would have relinquished his position at the end of this Congress, Or not, I have read somewhere that the Speaker need not be a member of Congress.
That’s correct, the Speaker doesn’t have to be a member of the House.
Alan West would make a great Speaker, IMO, but it’s unlikely to happen.
Just got a call from the National RNC phone bank...They wanted a donation, no less..... Well, I shouted several well used anglosaxon verbs to describe my utter disgust with the whole stinky bunch at RNC.....
I don’t think that would scare off nobama, he’s arrogant enough to dare em right up to conviction. Then I remember the dems have the Senate.
A tale told by an idiot filled with sound and fury and signifying nothing.
Just what did he “negotiate”? Who’d be pitcher or catcher?
I wish the Rep would pay for some help in the PR department, or fire the firm they have. They should be be putting out spin every single day.
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