Free Republic

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) blamed President Obama for wrecking a grand bargain on the deficit with a last minute demand for taxes. Boehner spoke out in an extraordinary Friday evening press conference held to rebut blistering criticism from Obama, who had delivered a televised show himself less than an hour earlier. "The White House moved the goal post. There was an agreement on some additional revenues, until yesterday when the president demanded $400 billion more, which was going to be nothing more than a tax increase on the American people." Boehner claimed Obama walked away from a draft agreement...

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...

At his press conference a few minutes ago, Obama whined Boehner wouldn't return his phone call this afternoon.

Congressional leadership reacted on Friday after House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio., ended debt limit talks with the White House.House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.:"Tonight, months after we had begun negotiations with President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Administration, Speaker Boehner and I are ending discussions with the White House and beginning conversations with Senate leaders in the hopes of finding a solution to the debt limit debate in order to avoid default. Throughout the months of discussions, we have worked to identify real spending cuts, binding budget reforms, structural changes to save our entitlement programs, and significant debt reduction....

Negotiations on a debt ceiling increase broke down when President Obama made a late push for additional tax increases House Speaker John Boehner said late Friday, countering the president's account of the swiftly-deteriorating talks. Moments after Obama professed to be puzzled at Republicans' unwillingness to accept "an extraordinarily fair deal," Boehner said it was the president who scuttled the plan. "The White House moved the goal posts," he said, with Obama demanding $400 billion in revenues beyond what the two had already agreed to. "It's the president who walked away from his agreement and demanded more money at the last...