Often things get lost in the daily grind of politics. The fact that the GOP is willing to raise taxes gets lost by the media because the media wants the GOP to raise rates. This Politico story makes very clear John Boehner must not raise rates. Better to go off the cliff than raise rates. In a meeting with leadership staff, [Rob] Nabors reiterated the | Read More »
Yesterday, John Boehner told his conference that he would be watching the voting records of particular members. Those who don’t support his view of Democrat-lite as the party platform will be kicked off their respective committees – just like Huelskamp, Schweikert, and Amash were axed earlier this week. Boehner and other members of leadership are repeating this mantra that the punishment of those members had | Read More »
The unreasonable Republicans in the House of Representatives are willing to raise taxes by $800 billion. Anti-tax Republicans will raise taxes. I’m not happy about it, but that is what John Boehner and Mitch McConnell seem to be offering. They want to raise that money by limiting deductions instead of raising rates. They do not want to raise rates because that will impact many small | Read More »
Well, that was quick. After denying that conservatives were thrown off committee spots for ideological purposes, Boehner now admitted it in front of his conference, according to The Hill: Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) warned his conference on Wednesday that leaders are “watching” how the rank-and-file vote to determine committee assignments, according to sources in the closed-door meeting. Boehner addressed the firestorm over the removal of | Read More »
John Boehner is making clear to Republican House members that the four conservatives removed from committees were removed because their votes defied House leaders. There was a time when John Boehner thought otherwise and valued independence from House members. From Meet the Press on January 5, 1997, over the dissatisfaction with Newt Gingrich: MR. RUSSERT: And with us now the Democratic whip, David Bonior of | Read More »
Yesterday, we noted that not only did House leadership select moderates to fill vacant spots on the top congressional committees, they made the unprecedented decision to banish conservatives already sitting on some important committees. All of the decisions related to committee assignments are decided by a Steering Committee. At present, the Steering Committee is comprised of 31 members, most of who are either members of | Read More »
Not quite two weeks removed from Thanksgiving, it is worth giving thanks to John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and Kevin McCarthy. I really am thankful for them. Yesterday the three of them purged fiscal conservatives from committees as punishment for being authentically fiscal conservatives. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina was put on the Financial Services Committee to show fiscal conservatism had nothing to do with removing | Read More »
Here are two things to keep in mind with regards to Boehner’s budget offer. First, when you begin negotiations agreeing to 60% of the demands of the other side and fail to offer a bold contrast on the other 40%, you are headed for an outcome that is 80-90% favorable to your opponent. Second, when you need to outsource your budget plan and entire view | Read More »
It’s not enough to merely elect conservatives to the House as rank-and-file members. As we’ve seen the past few weeks, it’s all about getting the right people into leadership and important committee assignments. Unfortunately, the roster of major committee chairmen is quite dismal, to say the least. Worse yet, it appears that the top 3 ‘Super A’ domestic policy committees will once again be filled | Read More »
Republicans in Washington are looking for ways to change the face of the party following their defeat in the presidential election. However, one thing that will not change is the face of GOP leaders in the House. Last week, John Boehner stacked the Steering Committee, which is responsible for selecting committee assignments, with like-minded stooges. He also gave himself 5 votes. Not surprisingly, there aren’t | Read More »
For those of us who thought that John Boehner was weak and flaccid in the face of adversity, we might consider rethinking our estimation of him. The Hill has a very informative article out today detailing all of Boehner’s recent power grabs and scorched-earth maneuvering in order to crush conservative opposition in the House. After locking up the top three leadership spots for himself, Cantor, | Read More »
Some things just never change. Back in 1976, President Ford ran for president against Jimmy Carter on a pale-pastel platform that was indistinguishable from the Democrats. In fact, based upon the demographics of the electoral map, many conservatives voted for Jimmy Carter. During the wilderness years of the Ford administration, Reagan issued an ominous warning about the direction of the party. “Our people look for | Read More »
John Boehner has been willing to throw his conference under the bus repeatedly. We know from the Bob Woodward book that he was willing to raise taxes. We know he cut a deal with Barack Obama without consulting the rest of his conference. We know it blew up in his face. We know he now doesn’t even want to fight Obamacare, calling it the “law | Read More »
We’ve been discussing the importance of the RSC Chairman race over the past few weeks and the imperative to elect Tom Graves as the next chairman. That is undoubtedly the most important leadership election for this term. However, there is another election into which conservatives must interject themselves: the race for Conference Chair between Tom Price and Cathy McMorris-Rodgers. Aside for the fact that Price | Read More »
Yesterday, Diane Sawyer asked John Boehner in an interview if he planned to push for repeal of Obamacare. He responded that “the election changes that” and “Obamacare is the law of the land.” No, Mr. Boehner, the Constitution is the law of the Republic. In April 2011, following the failure of Republicans to defund Obamacare during the first budget battle, I wrote the following at | Read More »
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