Free Republic

President Obama has rejected a proposed compromise from House Republicans that could have helped to end the congressional standoff that led to the now 11-day-old partial federal government shutdown. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) pitched a “clean” six-week increase with nothing in return to the community organizer in the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). As Big Government’s Matthew Boyle reports, “Obama’s and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to completely reject any offer of a compromise from House Republicans confirms what most conservatives already know: Obama will not negotiate on anything (he has said as much...

House Republican leaders are waiting to hear back from the White House after GOP staff sent over an informal proposal Thursday night that would raise the debt ceiling and create a process for reopening the government. Aides say President Barack Obama and Republicans are haggling over a deal that would lead to an end to the two-week-old government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling in exchange for a clear path to serious negotiations about spending and other fiscal issues. -snip- many Republicans are expected to still vote against such a deal. GOP leaders will likely need some Democratic votes to...

As Speaker John A. Boehner (R.-Ohio) struggles with the budget crisis, a Troy, Ohio schoolteacher and Tea Party activist announced Sept. 30 he will challenge Boehner in the 2014 GOP primary. Joseph D. “J.D.” Winteregg, who is a founder of the Ohio Accountability Project, a grassroots organization in Ohio-8, a congressional district bordering Indiana, said he is motivated by the gulf between the interests and values of the district and Boehner. It is a gulf exasperated by the Speaker’s concern for national issues, which has come to mean that although the district’s congressman is the Speaker of the House, the...