I was just given the following bullet points from one of the individuals who got briefed at the staff level on John Boehner’s proposal: On background if you would please*, just left the meeting on the Boehner deal. Some highlights: Outlay reduction for FY 12 – $25 billion cut in discretionary spending. Debt limit increase right away – $1 trillion Does not touch Obamacare funding, | Read More »
Apparently, the Republicans in Congress need a brief remedial lesson in the history of debt ceilings in this country over the last thirty years. January 1982 – Commission on Fiscal Accountability of the Nation’s Energy Resources — Debt at $1.14 Trillion January 1983 – National Commission on Social Security Reform – – Debt at $1.20 Trillion January 1984 – Executive Committee of the President’s Private | Read More »
Congresswoman Renee Ellmers (R-NC) was on Fox News a while ago saying House Republicans are standing behind John Boehner and his proposal. They might want to think again. Having now reviewed it, it seems pretty clear that we will lose our credit rating as it does a lot of what the credit agencies have said not to do — mainly to punt. Beyond the Speaker’s | Read More »
This is embarrassing. On Fox News Sunday, John Boehner began the day saying that he wanted a deal that kept to the principles of “Cut, Cap, and Balance.” He concluded Sunday by telling House Republicans that Cut, Cap, and Balance was off the table due to Senate opposition. Twice the House GOP has staked out a position. Twice they have been shot up and beat | Read More »
Having watched this debt ceiling fight play out over the past couple of months, I keep coming back to one inescapable conclusion: we need better generals. The Washington GOP wants to force another vote on the debt ceiling right before the election. That’s one of the ideas being kicked around in part of this grand deal. Let’s play this out: We get to the last | Read More »
A House Republican who is in leadership called me tonight. He said what we are hearing about — the two tier plan — is “sh*t” and he’s blaming Boehner. He agrees that Boehner is getting nervous and wants a deal. But this two tier plan seems to be the Republicans’ initial offer. Harry Reid is headed that way. Many Democrats want more. So keep in | Read More »
I think conservatives need to draw one more line in the sand on the debt ceiling. There is a growing worry that John Boehner and Eric Cantor will come up with a deal with the White House that will require Democrat votes to get through the House of Representatives. This would be a replay of the continuing resolution fiasco that cut little and cost much. | Read More »
Here is the way things work in Washington. One group in Congress comes up with a bold plan to save the country. Let’s call it Cut, Cap, and Balance. Everyone else sets out to undermine their plan. Heck, most of the rest of Congress doesn’t have a plan at all — they just want to dump on the group that comes up with the plan. | Read More »
If the New York Times reports tonight are true, John Boehner may just be destroying any chance the Supreme Court would get rid of Obamacare and making it even more likely Obamacare will never be repealed. Talk about negotiating with yourself. If Boehner gets what he wants — and Obama might just give it to him with enough rope to hang himself — the nation | Read More »
Tuesday night felt pretty good, didn’t it? The House GOP, joined by five Democrats, voted for Cut, Cap, and Balance. Finally, the House led on solid reform to turn the tide. Senators got active quickly to undermine the effort and still the House held the line. Great, wasn’t it? The Gang of 234 stood for freedom and, as an added bonus, gave a wonderful middle | Read More »
Here is what is going to happen unless House Republicans stage an immediate revolt against their own House leadership. Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi are going to win. They have managed to cut the legs out from under John Boehner and the House Republicans. In fact, the House Republicans have taken on all the appearances of Mitch McConnell’s basement gimp. I’m not sure | Read More »
Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed Last night the President engaged in off Broadway theatrics trying to scare the Republicans into folding on debt ceiling negotiations. Playing the role of Hollywood President, not the real President, the President said he didn’t care if this brought down his Presidency and he would not yield. He then dared Eric Cantor to call his bluff. Mr. Speaker, | Read More »
Many of us thought John Boehner would not turn back from the negotiating table. But he did. The media is a real tizzy trying to explain it. As is typical, they’re dumbing it down. Boehner backing away from the negotiating table (1) had nothing to do with tea party opposition, (2) nothing to do with fears of helping Barack Obama’s re-election, and (3) nothing to | Read More »
John Boehner says there is a 50-50 chance of a debt ceiling deal. Don’t expect him to advocate cutting the budget, capping spending, and passing a Balanced Budget Amendment. Boehner thinks a BBA is a “gimmick”, despite his prior support for one in the nineties. The tendency of many conservatives these days, myself included, is to dismiss out of hand whatever leadership comes up with. | Read More »
You need to call Speaker Boehner’s office right now at 202-225-0600 and thank him for the extraordinary step he took this week to slow down President Obama’s radical agenda. With the Obama legislative agenda stalled, the left has turned its attention toward using the Executive power to accomplish their socialist goals. The key to this strategy is to the pack agencies, boards, and commissions such | Read More »
Last night, Speaker John Boehner addressed the Economic Club of New York and drew a line in the sand in the debt ceiling fight. It was a monumental game changer for the GOP and puts them back on offense. Let me back up briefing and note that the Washington Post’s own left leaning editorial board came out swinging on Sunday against the Democrats’ opposition to | Read More »
There are two stories out today that suggest it is not just amateur hour at the White House where five days after Osama Bin Laden went to sleep with Davy Jones there are still more questions than answers. No, it is also amateur hour in the House of Representatives. Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) is declaring the fight to repeal Obamacare over. That’s right. He’s giving | Read More »
Just the other day I said the answer is “no” to the question “should the House GOP replace John Boehner.” The more we’ve found out about that budget deal, the more I think I might be wrong. Maybe we need Speaker Bachmann instead. On Friday, Robert Costa at National Review, got some insider dirt on the House GOP meeting that happened behind closed doors without | Read More »
If House Republicans vote for the bipartisan compromise, they should be driven into the street by the tea party movement and horsewhipped — metaphorically speaking. In reality, they should be primaried. What started out as $38.5 billion in cuts, turned into around $14 billion in cuts and a bunch of accounting gimmicks. Each new day brings new disgusting revelations. According to the Congressional Budget Office, | Read More »
I’m getting stern emails from Speaker Boehner’s Office about my prior post. The Speaker is not happy with me. The feeling is mutual the more I learn of this budget deal. Here’s the first email: Subject: This is False “Turns out it does not cut $38.5 billion. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it only cuts $353 million.” From story: “The CBO study confirms that | Read More »
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