First Lady Caught Rolling Eyes Twice at Boehner

It was a video clip in desperate need of a caption.

During the inaugural luncheon Monday, Michelle Obama could be seen blatantly rolling her eyes at something House Speaker John Boehner told her husband. 

The moment was fleeting. As Michelle Obama was seated in the middle, Boehner leaned back for a word -- and apparently a laugh -- with President Obama. 

There was no audio on the three of them, but the first lady's face said it all. As Boehner addressed the president, he tapped Michelle Obama's arm. She glanced up, and quickly looked back down.

Then Boehner appeared to crack a joke. He smiled, the president laughed -- whatever Boehner said, it made Michelle Obama pause from her lunch for a few seconds, visibly shaking her head and giving the speaker's comment a hearty eye-roll.

The moment was then interrupted when Sen. Chuck Schumer had everyone join in a round of applause for the chef and caterer.

President Obama and Boehner have been at odds for months over a string of budget issues. After the latest deal to avert the fiscal crisis, Boehner said he would no longer negotiate with the president one-on-one. 

Whether the two were getting chummy again at Monday's lunch is unclear -- but it didn't look like the first lady was buying it.

Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2013/01/21/michelle-obama-gives-boehner-eye-roll-he-jokes-president/#ixzz2Ij6YXoRR

GOP Fires Back at Obama Gun Plan

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President Obama's sweeping plan to address gun violence was met Wednesday with swift and stiff resistance by gun rights advocates and conservative lawmakers, setting up a tense debate that will be held on the airwaves, in congressional hearing rooms and in communities across America.
The package proposed Wednesday is the most comprehensive in decades. The president called for a new, tougher assault weapons ban and a 10-round limit on magazines, as well as legislation to bar the possession of armor-piercing bullets and require criminal background checks for nearly all gun sales.
Separately, he approved 23 executive actions while calling for additional funding to address mental health and school security.
The movement comes in the wake of last month's school massacre in Connecticut, where 20 children and six adults were killed.
"If there's even one life that can be saved, then we've got an obligation to try," said Obama, joined at the White House by four children who wrote to the president following the Newtown, Conn., tragedy.
But several lawmakers said the president's proposals in large part would not have prevented a shooting like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School. They accused the president of glossing over potential factors like the entertainment industry and the country's mental health system, making clear that the legislative proposals could face an uphill climb.
"Nothing the president is proposing would have stopped the massacre at Sandy Hook. President Obama is targeting the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens instead of seriously addressing the real underlying causes of such violence," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said. "Rolling back responsible citizens' rights is not the proper response to tragedies committed by criminals and the mentally ill."
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the proposals would merely invite "drawn-out court battles."
"Instead of a thoughtful, open and deliberate conversation, President Obama is attempting to institute new restrictions on a fundamental constitutional right," he said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, in a written statement, said: "Guns require a finger to pull the trigger. The sad young man who did that in Newtown was clearly haunted by demons, and no gun law could have saved the children in Sandy Hook Elementary from his terror."
But both sides of the debate were preparing Wednesday for a drawn-out national debate. The National Rifle Association is preparing to launch a major ad campaign and has already started running one ad. The group said Wednesday it would work with Congress on a "bipartisan basis" but that "attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation."
The NRA said: "Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected, and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy" as a result of the administration's plan.
On the other side, a group founded by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in a 2011 mass shooting, and her husband, Mark Kelly, has gotten involved in making the public case for gun control. Kelly and Vice President Biden, who led the president's anti-gun violence task force, met Wednesday in Washington.
A handful of Democratic lawmakers have already proposed gun-control bills, though Obama on Wednesday did not endorse any specific piece of legislation. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said he plans to start holding hearings in two weeks on the issue.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who intends to introduce a gun-control package next week including an assault-weapons ban, on Wednesday praised the president's announcement.
"He was exactly right when he said 'weapons designed for the theater of war have no place' in our society. I couldn't agree more. These weapons have one purpose: to kill the most people in the shortest amount of time possible," Feinstein said.
The leaders of the House and Senate declined to issue any definitive statements on Wednesday. "House committees of jurisdiction will review these recommendations. And if the Senate passes a bill, we will also take a look at that," said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.
In the Senate, Democratic Leader Harry Reid said: "I am committed to ensuring that the Senate will consider legislation that addresses gun violence and other aspects of violence in our society early this year." He thanked the task force for the "thoughtful" ideas and said "all options should be on the table moving forward."
The president, immediately after making his remarks, signed nearly two-dozen executive actions -- a step that has stirred objections from lawmakers who have warned Obama not to overstep his bounds.
Unilaterally, Obama on Wednesday directed federal agencies to share information with the federal background check system; proposed new rules to let law enforcement run full background checks before returning a seized gun; ordered the Centers for Disease Control to research causes of gun violence; required law enforcement to trace guns from criminal investigations; and took other steps. Obama also is nominating the ATF's acting director, Todd Jones, to lead the agency permanently.
The most controversial elements of the president's plan, though, continue to be the proposals he wants Congress to pass.
The call for universal background checks would extend to gun shows and private sales, with "limited" exemptions for "certain transfers" among family members and other situations. The administration plans to give private sellers guidance on how to run background checks as soon as possible.
The president also wants to commit $4 billion to hiring more police officers and to pass new gun trafficking laws to explicitly prohibit straw purchasing.
The White House plan addresses school security, as well, urging Congress to help schools complete emergency plans; proposing an initiative to help schools hire up to 1,000 resource officers and mental health professionals. and proposing new training for teachers to recognize mental health issues among young people. Obama also plans to beef up mental health insurance coverage by executive action.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/16/obama-gun-plan-meets-resistance-on-capitol-hill/#ixzz2IBzKVOml

We're now one step closer to America's coming civil war

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ozarkteaparty.com

By Arthur Herman 

The New Year has started with a monstrosity of a budget deal, one that proves that neither political party, Democrats or Republicans, is really serious about controlling the growth of big government.

But soap opera dramatics about fiscal "cliffs" and sequestration shouldn’t deflect from where President Obama is really taking this country. Consider this story from the Wall Street Journal a few days before Christmas:

“Thousands of people in several Argentine cities ransacked supermarkets for a second day in the latest challenge to President Chistina Kirchner, who is struggling to revive a weak economy...In the central city Rosario, two people were killed during the incidents and 137 people arrested.

Washington's Republicans and Democrats alike have become the toll collectors on the road to serfdom

“The violence puts Mrs. Kirchner in a difficult position as the poor are [her] core constituents...Her government spends billions of dollars a year to help low income families, including free health care...[Yet] Argentine activists who claim to represent the poor traditionally block access to supermarkets in the month of December to demand free food and other items...The latest events were some of the worst acts of looting and vandalism in years.... Local media showed dozens of men, women, and children hauling away televisions, refrigerators, and food.”

Some have said my warnings about a coming civil war between makers and takers are exaggerated. It’s true that Argentina’s politicians have been waging class warfare since Juan and Eva Peron–and they aren’t fazed when it turns bloody. Obama and the Democrats are relative newcomers to the game. But Argentina reveals who really suffers when those who create a nation’s wealth get mugged by those who spend it–as just happened this week in Washington.

It’s the poor and the middle class, the very ones big government says it’s trying to protect.

And sadly that’s where Mitt Romney had it wrong.

That 47 percent of Americans who get unemployment benefits, Social Security disability checks, Medicare and Medicaid, and government student loans, aren’t the real takers. Like the rioters in Rosario, they’re just pawns in a perennial battle between those who see wealth and prosperity as something created by hard work, ingenuity, and innovation in a free market system–or something to be doled out by government.

Experience teaches that those who believe in free markets are right. The November election and the budget deal, however, show that the other side is winning, and winning big.

Since 1970, America’s public sector has exploded as a percentage of GDP, rising to almost 25% last year. While the national unemployment rate hovers at the 8% mark, government worker unemployment rate is a cozy 3.8%. Sixteen percent of America’s workforce now work for government. By the time the Obama administration ends, we won’t be that far away from Argentina’s 21 percent.

Yet as an economic and social enterprise, government creates nothing.

Far from adding to people’s standard of living, government is the number one cause of poverty in this country. It forces those who depend on its largesse to live hand to mouth, with no time or money to plan for the future. They become unable to fend for themselves---and increasingly resentful of those who can.

When the economy tanks and the government checks have to shrink, their only alternative is to take to the streets. That’s what happening in Argentina, and in Greece; and that’s where the growth of government is taking us here, as this current budget deal increases handouts–and more and more Americans are finding that an unemployment or Social Security disability check is their only life line.

Washington’s Republicans and Democrats alike have become the toll collectors on the road to serfdom–and the road to Rosario.

How far down that road depends on how our private sector rallies in 2013 after two numbing defeats, first on November 7 and then on Capitol Hill this week.

It needs to explain to that 47 percent that when big government wins, we all lose–and that this nation won’t survive if it does.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/01/03/were-now-one-step-closer-to-america-coming-civil-war/#ixzz2HplyFyvw

America is watching 'War of the Roses' 2013-style starring Obama and Boehner

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Painting by Henry Payne in 1908 [Wikipedia]

By Liz Peek 

The most famous talked-about couple in Washington needs serious therapy. No, not Michelle and Barack – I’m talking about the  President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.

Watching those two guide the country through difficult times is like witnessing "The War of the Roses" – the film variety. 

Unfortunately, instead of the relatively trivial matter of managing household finances, our elected leaders need to come together on solving our country’s dire fiscal problems. Most immediately, they need to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

As with many troubled couples, these two cannot agree on money matters. Like a wife ignorant of the family’s finances, Obama wants ever more and ultimately ruinous spending. Boehner is the stern husband trying to talk sense.   

As with many troubled couples, these two cannot agree on money matters. Like a wife ignorant of the family’s finances, Obama wants ever more and ultimately ruinous spending. Boehner is the stern husband trying to talk sense.   

Beyond philosophical disagreements, and adding to their inability to function well together, Messrs. Obama and Boehner do not appear to have a high regard for each other. This is disastrous in marriage, and in politics. In "Blink," author Malcolm Gladwell introduces psychologist John Gottman, who claims that after only fifteen minutes of observing a couple, he can predict with 90% accuracy their chance of a successful marriage. (Really, I’ve always wondered why don't more young hopefuls don’t sign up for this?)

What are the signals? He ascribes most marital failures to the presence of four behaviors: defensiveness, stonewalling, criticism and contempt. 

It is hard to come up with four words that more appropriately describe the relationship between the House Speaker and the president, who have regularly indulged in angry phone calls, pouting and blame-throwing. There is one reaction, though, that is determining, and that is contempt. As Gottman explains, “...if I speak from a superior plane, that’s far more damaging, and contempt is any statement from a higher level.”

Does anyone doubt that President Obama speaks from a higher plane? That he is dismissive of John Boehner?  Do we imagine that John Boehner is enthralled with the president? 

The Speaker reported recently that Obama told him, “we don’t have a spending problem.” Boehner was not only exasperated, he was also incredulous. After four years of trillion-dollar deficits on his watch, after suffering the first U.S. credit downgrade in generations, having been on the receiving end of stern warnings from the IMF of the sort usually reserved for countries like Zambia, and with every reasoned analysis projecting fiscal Armageddon if Medicare is not brought to heel, how could the president not recognize the urgency of bringing long-term entitlements spending under control?

Boehner’s explanation is that President Obama is “so ideological himself”, as he told the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore, and that he is “unwilling to take on the left wing of his own party.” It’s hard to say which the Speaker considers worse.

When Boehner tried to press his concern about excessive U.S. spending, Obama reportedly replied, “I’m getting tired of hearing you say that.”  How very Marie Antoinette.

As in most marital spats, there are hints of affections straying. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has played, perhaps, the “other woman”, to pursue this analogy. Christie was charged with introducing candidate Mitt Romney at the GOP convention -- perhaps the most important speech at the Republican gathering –- testament to his stature in the party. 

He spent that coveted spot mainly talking about himself, and giving but mildly enthusiastic support for his party’s hopeful, planting seeds of doubt in the minds of some that he was the GOP’s best bet for 2016. However, his standing took an even greater hit when he bear-hugged (literally and figuratively) President Obama in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Coming as it did just before the election, the Sandy love-fest, and Christie, are blamed for boosting Obama’s image at a critical moment.

More recently, Christie savagely criticized the Speaker’s failure to ram through the relief bill so needed by New Jersey and other states badly damaged by the hurricane. Christie’s attack, on the heels of the dalliance with Obama, has helped dim the public’s view of Boehner, further trimming his negotiating ability.

The Speaker Boehner has determined that he will forgo any more closed-door negotiations with the president, considering them “futile.” The president, in return, has vowed not to negotiate over raising the debt ceiling. More and more Obama has turned to executive orders to carry out his agenda – including most recently threatening to use that means to enact gun controls. The relationship, as poor as it was, appears to be on the skids. This is not entirely good news for the country.  

Is it time to bring in marriage counselors? One team that might help the fractious twosome is former Senators Simpson and Bowles. This bipartisan duo, after all, was asked by President Obama to come up with a long-term plan for putting our nation’s finances in order. They did a bang-up job of putting everything on the table, and proposing measures that both right and left found odious. That was the virtue of their plan, which remains the best blueprint – or at least the most intelligent starting point -- for putting our house in order. 

Numerous House Republicans in the past couple of days have proposed taking up the Simpson-Bowles plan; Texas Representative Steve Stockman has said he would introduce it as a bill in the House. Unfortunately, Obama dismissed the plan as readily as a shopaholic housewife scorns a budget; the plan was DOA.

Indeed, it is of course not just DC’s most talked-about visible power twosome duo that is having difficulties. The entire extended body politic -- GOP and Dems alike – cannot communicate.They talk right by each other on important matters like reining in our spiraling entitlements obligations, how we are going to rebuild our outdated infrastructure, the best way to rationalize our immigration system and improve our public schools, how to simplify and improve our tax code, how to reboot job creation and make sure our institutions are protected from cyberthreats. 

We have real problems, and a legislative body – and White House – that seems unable to get the nation’s business done. As a result, Americans are ever more anxious about our future. They say politics makes strange bedfellows. Sadly for the country, Beltway insiders have apparently taken a vow of chastity.  

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/01/11/watching-obama-and-boehner-is-like-watching-war-roses-2013/#ixzz2HpkXxtHq

Boehner re-elected as Speaker

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‘Negotiating’ With the Left: A Waste of Time

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John Boehner

By Tom Blumer

Having lived in Greater Cincinnati for most of my life, I’ve had a chance to observe Congressman John Boehner’s actions and performance from a perspective most haven’t.

Most of what I saw until he became House Speaker in January 2011 was good — usually very good. What has transpired since has not been. Boehner and House Republicans have been unable to put the brakes on the country’s headlong rush towards insolvency driven by President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the federal regulatory leviathan, and the courts, or on their continued trampling of our fundamental freedoms.

I can already see the excuses: “Tom, the House of Representatives is only one-half of one of the three branches of government. You can’t expect Boehner and Republican leaders to withstand the daily assaults from all other quarters.” Sure, I get that. Add the adversarial, hostile, double standard-driven establishment press to the mix, and one can totally understand the daunting challenges the Speaker has faced.

There’s one problem with that attempt at justification, and it has nothing to do with ordinary expectations. It instead has everything to do with the heightened expectations Boehner and the Republican Party created in the run-up to the 2010 congressional elections, embodied in both the party’s Pledge to America and Boehner’s October 2010 speech just a few weeks before Election Day.

By that time, it was clear to almost everyone, thanks to the growing influence of the Tea Party movement, the pathetic economic recovery, and the unprecedentedly awful job market, that Nancy Pelosi’s reign as Speaker of the House was going to end, and that Boehner, with a solid post-election GOP majority, was a virtual lock to become its next Speaker.

Boehner’s speech and the party’s Pledge gave millions of frightened mainstream Americans hope that they could, and would, right the ship of state. Consider just a few things Boehner said in that October speech, and compare them to actual results.

“(This speech is) about the jobs that were promised to the American people by the current administration, and never delivered.”

At the time, total seasonally adjusted private-sector employment as measured by the Establishment Survey at the Bureau of Labor Statistics was eight million below its January 2008 peak. 25 months later, private-sector employment, which should by now have jumped to several million above that 2008 high, is still down by 3.7 million. Even those grim statistics understate the gravity of the employment situation and how little improvement we’ve seen, especially in comparison to past recoveries. Full-time employment as measured by the BLS’s Household Survey is still 6.2 million lower than its peak in late 2007, while part-time employment is up by 2.8 million. Since the recession officially ended in June 2009, over 800,000 of the 3.3 million net jobs added have gone to those who toil at temporary help firms.

“The greatest threat to job creation in our country is the flawed idea that we can tax, spend and borrow our way to prosperity.”

In the 24 months Boehner has been Speaker, the government has run a deficit of over $2 trillion, spent over $7 trillion, increased the national debt by over $2.4 trillion, and done almost nothing to contain the explosive growth of entitlements. 

“Our plan cuts spending immediately, back to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels.”

If that were currently the case, the government would be spending about $2.9 trillion annually — still far more than necessary to carry out its constitutionally assigned functions (a topic for another day). Instead, it has spent $3.4 to $3.6 trillion during each of the past four fiscal years, and is off to a record-shattering start in fiscal 2013.

“Your government is out of control. Do you have to accept it? Do you have to take it? Hell no you don’t! That’s what elections are for! In Common Sense, Thomas Paine wrote that ‘we have it in our power to begin the world over again.’ In just 25 days, voters will have a chance to do just that.”

Unlike many others, I really believe that John Boehner intended to get what he described as an “out of control” government back on track. Nobody who heard that speech could possibly have imagined that he would acquiesce to an August 2011 debt-ceiling deal that put off serious consideration of what we are doing to our children, grandchildren and generations yet to be born until after the 2012 elections, seriously crippling 2012 GOP election campaigns across the land. There was also no reason to believe that Boehner would just over two years later get behind fiscal cliff-preventing legislation which by some accounts involves $41 in tax increases for ever dollar in spending “cuts,” which we know really means “reductions in projected spending increases.” A January 2 Wall Street Journal editorial asserts that the legislation involved represents “the biggest tax increase in 20 years” coupled with “spending increases.”

So what happened? Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Washington Republicans have naively believed, and probably still do despite their repeated humiliations, that there can be honest negotiations with Washington Democrats led by the most radical president in U.S. history. That is not possible.

Boehner’s only alternative from Day 1 of his speakership, something which I erroneously thought he finally realized in that 2010 speech, was to:

• Insist on constitutional grounds that the House would consider no revenue-raising legislation originating in the Senate. (Article 1, Section 7: “All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.”)

• Pass comprehensive legislation to accomplish the goals articulated in the Pledge for America.

• Adjourn, and don’t come back. If the Senate or the President wouldn’t sign, then the government would shut down, and it would be blindingly obvious to anyone with an ounce of sense who caused it.

The People’s House has the constitutional power of the purse. John Boehner hasn’t leveraged it. Until he or the next Speaker does, the left will rule the fiscal roost in Washington, and our nation’s rapid descent into bankruptcy will be virtually assured.

Boehner Facing Fight for the Gavel?

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John Boehner told Harry Reid to "go f--- yourself"

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As nasty as the battle over the fiscal crisis bill looked on the floors of Congress, it was even nastier behind the scenes.

Sources confirmed to Fox News that House Speaker John Boehner told Harry Reid to "go f--- yourself" while passing by the Senate majority leader at the White House Friday.

The outburst came after Reid, on Thursday, took to the floor and likened Boehner to a dictator. Reid had claimed Boehner was holding back a bill out of concern for his speakership. 

"John Boehner seems to care more about keeping his speakership than about keeping the nation on firm financial footing," Reid said Thursday, claiming the chamber was "being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker."

Boehner did not take kindly to the accusation. Politico first reported that Boehner swore at Reid when he saw him the next day at the White House, where congressional leaders were convening for a meeting. 

Reid reportedly seemed startled, asking, "What are you talking about?" Boehner then repeated, "Go f--- yourself." 

Boehner's office offered "no comment" on the incident.

Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2013/01/02/boehner-swore-reid-after-dictatorship-comment-sources-say/#ixzz2Gqs6iBzj

Fiscal cliff deal: House OKs proposal despite GOP objections

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Senators work behind scenes Saturday on fiscal deal, votes would come Sunday

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner outside the White House in Washington. (AP)

Senate leaders are working off-stage Saturday to reach a final-hours deal to avert a fiscal crisis, with no official proposals or votes expected until Sunday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, has adjourned the chamber until Sunday so Democratic and Republican leaders can negotiate on a deal to present to the House.

House members will officially return to Capitol Hill on Sunday in expectation that the Senate will present them with a plan to stop tax increases that are scheduled to kick in next week.

Senate leaders from both sides of the aisle vowed late Friday to scramble over the weekend to produce a new bill, on the heels of a high-stakes White House meeting with President Obama that is seen as the last chance to come together before the tax-hike deadline.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he hopes senators can come forward with a recommendation as early as Sunday. 

Several senior administration officials told Fox News late Friday night that McConnell, R-Ky., is showing strong signs that he will help seal a deal.

However, they acknowledges he will have a difficult time getting a deal passed in the Republican-controlled House, which  has so far rejected any plan that includes allowing tax rates to increase for higher-earning Americans.

Reid called the White House meeting Friday "very constructive." 

"We need to have everybody step back a bit," he said.

The pledge to work on a new bill is by no means a solution to the sweeping set of tax hikes set to hit Jan. 1, followed by steep spending cuts. Lawmakers still have to write the bill, and produce something that can pass both chambers. 

Obama, speaking from the White House briefing room late Friday, voiced a dose of doubt about the Senate leaders' final push for a deal. 

He said he's "modestly optimistic" but that if Reid and McConnell fail, the Senate should allow an up-or-down vote on a scaled-back proposal the president is pushing. 

"The hour for immediate action is here, it is now," Obama said. "We're now at the last minute, and the American people are not going to have any patience for a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy. ... We've got to get this done." 

Considering how late this effort is getting underway, lawmakers easily run the risk of missing the deadline and causing at least some uncertainty with Americans' tax bills starting next week. 

The developments late Friday, though, at least showed Reid and McConnell were beginning to work together. And it marked a decision by lawmakers that the Senate should make the first move -- for days, House Speaker John Boehner has insisted that the Senate act, but Reid has resisted and put the onus on the House. 

It's unclear what the new bill would entail. It appears the Senate wants to tweak the Obama plan, which would include an extension of current tax rates for most Americans -- but potentially adjust it so fewer earners see a tax hike, and add a provision dealing with a looming expansion of the estate tax. 

The debt ceiling, which Obama wants increased, would not be part of this bill. And a senior White House official admitted it is unclear how a looming set of spending cuts would be addressed. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/29/senators-work-behind-scenes-saturday-on-fiscal-deal-votes-would-come-sunday/#ixzz2GT2vFe9D

What leaders said after financial cliff meeting

politicalticker

Washington (CNN) - Congressional leaders spoke Friday after meeting about the fiscal cliff with President Barack Obama at the White House.

Congressional leaders attending the meeting was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Vice President Joe Biden was to be in attendance, the White House said, and an administration official said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner would attend as well.

Obama was set to make a statement at 5:45 p.m. ET.
McConnell and Reid spoke on the Senate floor.
Reid said, “we had a constructive meeting. We certainly hope that something positive will come from that. The republican leader and I and our staffs are working and we’ll see what we can come up with. We shouldn’t take a long time to do that. …
“If we come up with something, it’s not that easy. We’re dealing with big numbers and some of the stuff that we do is somewhat complicated. But I think it was a very positive meeting,” he said. “There was not a lot of hilarity in the meeting, everyone knows how important it is. It was a very serious meeting and it took an extended period of time as you all know waiting for us.”
McConnell spoke immediately after Reid, saying, “I share the view of the majority leader. We had a good meeting down at the White House.
“We are engaged in discussions, the majority leader and myself and the White House, in the hopes that we can come forward as early as Sunday and have a recommendation that I can make to my conference and the majority leader [Reid] can make to his conference and so we’ll be working hard to try and see if we can get there in the next 24 hours,” he said. “And so I’m hopeful and optimistic.”
Boehner’s office issued a statement which said he “reminded the group that the House has already acted to avert the entire fiscal cliff and is awaiting Senate action.”
“The leaders spent the majority of the meeting discussing potential options and components for a plan that could pass both chambers of Congress,” the statement read. “The Speaker told the President that if the Senate amends the House-passed legislation and sends back a plan, the House will consider it – either by accepting or amending. The group agreed that the next step should be the Senate taking bipartisan action.”
In a paper statement, McConnell’s office also pointed to legislation which had passed the House.
“While the House already passed legislation in August to prevent tax hikes (a proposal Sen. McConnell supports), the President and Congressional leaders today agreed that the Senate must now act,” the statement read. “This will require a bipartisan approach. Members of the Senate will continue to work toward producing a bipartisan package in a timely manner to protect American taxpayers and jobs from a massive tax hike in January.”
Pelosi said the meeting was "constructive" and "candid."

White House Meeting Ends With No Sign of Breakthrough

foxnews

If Americans were looking to Washington on Friday to unveil a bold new solution for averting the fiscal crisis, they didn't get it.
President Obama, at a last-ditch meeting with congressional leaders just days before sweeping tax hikes take effect, presented a recycled version of the scaled-back proposal he pitched last week.
There was little sign of a breakthrough, as lawmakers left shortly after 4 p.m. Stocks on Wall Street dove at the close of the day, amid fears that the tax increases along with steep spending cuts will hit Jan. 1.
According to one source familiar with the White House meeting, Obama pushed lawmakers to either bring his proposal for a scaled-down bill to a vote or put forward a counterproposal of their own.
As she returned to Capitol Hill, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi suggested Obama is trying to get the Senate to act first. "I think it moved us forward," she said of the meeting, without offering specifics about what was discussed.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called it "very constructive."
"We hope it will bear fruit," the Democratic leader said, though he cautioned there was "no concrete proposal."
The president's plan is a far cry from the kind of "grand bargain" lawmakers were shooting for just a few weeks ago -- something that would narrow the deficit, overhaul the tax code and set the country on a course to curb its entitlement spending, all while averting massive tax hikes and spending cuts.
Instead, Obama wants a bill that primarily nixes the tax hikes for families making under $250,000. He has pushed that particular provision for months, though Republicans have adamantly opposed raising taxes on those making above $250,000. Obama's proposal would also extend unemployment benefits for roughly 2 million people expected to lose them next year, and deal with "other outstanding issues."
Obama referred to those other issues last week when he called for laying "the groundwork for future growth and deficit reduction," which presumably would be a commitment to return next year and draft broader tax and entitlement reform.
The latter idea, though, would stir deep skepticism in Congress -- the last big budget deal in the summer of 2011 ended precisely with such a commitment, which in turn ended in failure and the fiscal crisis facing the country today.
The immediate challenge for negotiators, though, will be to craft a plan that does enough to spare most Americans a big hike without doing so much as to complicate the bill's passage. There are a host of expiring provisions next year -- from Medicare rates to doctors to payroll tax cuts -- that some lawmakers hoped to address before the end of the month. The more items added to the bill, the trickier it gets to pass it.
Lawmakers have been hesitant to predict whether Congress will be able to arrive at any solution.
Earlier Friday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said: "I think it all comes down" to the White House meeting.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., continued to push for a "grand bargain," though that does not appear to be what Obama is pushing in the near-term.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, ahead of the meeting, called on leaders to "get serious."
"We are obviously running out of time here," he said.
Lawmakers effectively have fewer than two working days to pass legislation. While the Senate is in session, the House does not return until Sunday afternoon.
Between now and Jan. 1, Congress has just a handful of options for sparing taxpayers. Aside from the scaled-back "Plan C" being offered by Obama, lawmakers could simply pass a short-term extension of current rates -- buying more time to work out an agreement. Lawmakers might have to do this even if they reach an agreement by the weekend -- because of the sheer time it would take to write that bill and bring it to the floor.
Or Congress could let the tax hikes happen, only to retroactively deal with them next year. The Boston Globe reported Friday that the IRS may delay the impact of tax hikes by holding off on telling employers to change how much they withhold from workers.
House Republican leaders, though, still want the Senate to pass their bill that extends current rates for everyone. And Senate Democratic leaders still want the House to pass their bill letting taxes rise on households making more than $250,000.
The latter, though, would probably only pass in the House with a bloc of mostly Democrats. According to Politico, Boehner told his rank-and-file Thursday that he's "not interested" in passing a bill that way.
Fox News' Ed Henry and Chad Pergram and Fox Business Network's Rich Edson contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/28/obama-congressional-leaders-give-talks-to-avert-fiscal-crisis-one-last-try/#ixzz2GODQ2AXS

Boehner calls House back to Washington on Sunday

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HARRY REID: 'It Looks Like' We'll Go Over The Cliff Because Of Boehner's 'Dictatorship'

businessinsider/ Brett LoGiurato

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid/ CNN

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said this morning that it "looks like" Congress will fail to come to a deal to avert the year-end fiscal cliff, blaming the failure on House Speaker John Boehner's "dictatorship" running the lower chamber.

"It looks like that's where we're headed," Reid said. "I don't know, time-wise, how it can happen now."

It's not exactly a surprise — leaders left Washington last week without any imminent signs of a deal in the making. But it's a grim warning just days before tax hikes and automatic spending cuts begin to take effect.

Reid opened the Senate session by launching into a lengthy criticism of the House and Boehner, saying he "seems to care more about his Speakership" than making a deal on the cliff.

The House is being run "by a dictatorship of the Speaker," Reid said. He accused Boehner of waiting until the election of the Speaker on Jan. 3 to get involved with negotiations. And he urged the lower chamber to pass the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, which the Senate narrowly passed in July. The bill made permanent all of the Bush-era tax cuts on incomes of less than $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals.

Reid also slammed the House for not being in session on Thursday. He said that instead of being in Washington, Republicans are "out watching movies."

"They had to have a conference call," he said.

Reid's comments come a day after Boehner put the onus on the Senate on making the next move in fiscal cliff negotiations.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fiscal-cliff-harry-reid-negotiations-obama-boehner-taxes-cuts-spending-2012-12#ixzz2GGr4KwHP

FISCAL TALKS FREEZE: Lawmakers Refuse to Make First Move to Avert Crisis

foxnews

You go. No, you go.
That's the refrain on Capitol Hill, as House and Senate leaders each refuse to make the first move in crafting a bill that can avert the fiscal crisis scheduled to hit next week. President Obama, en route from Hawaii, will land in Washington Thursday morning -- but with Republicans and Democrats not exactly talking to one another, it looks like Thursday will be another wasted day as the odds mount of a historic tax hike setting in Jan. 1.
Though Obama, before leaving on vacation Friday, expressed hope that both sides could come together on a scaled-down package that at least averts most of the tax increases, no compromise bill has emerged. Instead, the leaders of the House and Senate returned to familiar talking points late Wednesday, as part of a drawn-out waiting game with huge consequences. The Senate is waiting on the House, the House is waiting on the Senate, and Americans are waiting to see what will happen to their paychecks in 2013.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, in a brief written statement, urged Republicans to pass a Senate bill that raises taxes for households making above $250,000 and preserves current rates for everyone else.
"It is time for House Republicans to put middle class families first by passing the Senate's bill to protect 98 percent of Americans from a tax hike on January 1. The Senate bill could pass tomorrow if House Republicans would simply let it come to the floor," Reid said. "The Senate has already rejected House Republicans' Tea Party bills, and no further legislation can move through the Senate until Republicans drop their knee-jerk obstruction. Right now, the Senate bill is the only bill that can become law, and House Republicans owe it to middle class families to let it pass with Democratic and Republican votes."
House Speaker John Boehner earlier made the same argument about two Republican-passed bills in his chamber -- one extending current tax rates for everyone; the other rearranging the $110 billion in spending cuts set to hit next year.
"The House has acted on two bills which collectively would avert the entire fiscal cliff if enacted. Those bills await action by the Senate," he and other Republican leaders said in a statement. "If the Senate will not approve and send them to the president to be signed into law in their current form, they must be amended and returned to the House."
They said the House would either accept those bills or continue to amend them, adding: "The House will take this action on whatever the Senate can pass, but the Senate first must act."
With each side refusing to make the first move, it may be incumbent upon Obama to give a negotiated bill one last try, presuming he can get all the stakeholders in the same room. Also unclear is what role Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who has stayed largely quiet throughout this debate, may play in pushing for an 11th-hour deal.
A new Gallup poll, though, showed Americans are growing increasingly pessimistic about the chances for an agreement in roughly five days. The Senate is in session Thursday for unrelated business, but the House is not. House Republican members have been told they would be given 48-hours notice if they are called back. Considering the time it takes to write and pass a bill of this magnitude, the best route for averting tax hikes may be to pass a short-term extension of current rates with the goal of approving a larger package early next year.
Lawmakers have not even agreed to that, though. Without a deal, more than $500 billion in tax hikes are scheduled to go into effect. This includes increases in income tax rates, investment tax rates, the estate tax, the payroll tax and other provisions. Budget cuts to the Pentagon and other federal agencies threaten to hit government contractors. All together, a prolonged failure to avert these policies could cause another recession, economists warn.
While Reid is in Washington, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said Thursday that Boehner has not yet left Ohio. Steel said "lines of communication remain open" -- but, reiterating the speaker's position, he said "communication is no substitute for Senate action."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/27/house-senate-leaders-frozen-on-fiscal-talks-as-odds-tax-hike-rise/#ixzz2GGSVUWB5

Stanton: Why John Boehner Will (Probably) Be Fine

Pat Dollard

Excerpted from Buzzfeed: WASHINGTON — Democrats and some conservatives are dreaming this weekend of a late Christmas present: House Speaker John Boehner’s head on a platter.

But that probably won’t happen, for several reasons. First, legislative coups are risky, and the fiscal cliff talks are still playing out. Meanwhile, Boehner is personally popular. The opposition has no clear leader.
But perhaps most important of all, it’s not clear that it’s in the interest of the conservative Republicans leading talk of the coup to dive into the messy business of making deals with a Democratic president and Senate, or assuming responsibility for the 2014 midterm elections.
“I’m not,” Boehner said Friday, asked whether he was worried about his speakership following the collapse of his attempt to rally Republicans around an alternative tax increase plan to President Obama’s. “They weren’t taking that out on me — they were dealing with the perception that they were raising taxes,” he said.
In theory, a coup is possible: many conservatives would gleefully support such a move — and few Democrats would shed a tear. And it would only take a handful of his conference to throw the election for speaker into chaos. As National Journal points out, it would take just 17 Republicans voting for anyone other than Boehner to throw the election into chaos.
But while he may have lost control of his conference, Boehner has a lot of reasons to not be worried about actually losing the speakership when the House convenes January 3rd to hold elections.
Keep reading…

House Republicans Plan to Oust Boehner from Speakership

responsebeacon

Several conservative House Republican members are contemplating a plan to unseat Speaker John Boehner from his position on January 3, Breitbart News has exclusively learned. Staffers have compiled a detailed action plan that, if executed, could make this a reality.

The Republicans, both conservatives and more establishment members alike, are emboldened after the failure of Boehner’s fiscal cliff “Plan B” on Thursday evening. Dissatisfaction with Boehner is growing in the House Republican conference, but until now there hasn’t been a clear path forward.

Those members and staffers requested anonymity from Breitbart News at this time to prevent retaliation from Boehner similar to what happened to those four members who were purged from their powerful committee assignments a few weeks ago. Their expressed concern is that if Boehner knew who they were, his adverse reaction toward them would be much more brutal than losing committee assignments, such as a primary challenge in 2014 by a leadership-sponsored candidate.

Obama on cliff deal: 'Still think we can get it done'

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Fiscal Crisis Nears After 'Plan B' Fails

Foxnews

After House Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" for averting the fiscal crisis withered Thursday night in the absence of enough Republican support, one question echoed through Washington -- what now?
Americans are facing a gut-punch of tax hikes in just 11 days without a deal. But there's no real working plan. Talks between Boehner and President Obama aimed at crafting a compromise are on ice. The House won't pass the bill, which contains tax hikes, that Senate Democrats want. The Senate won't pass the bill, which contains zero tax hikes, that House Republicans want.
And Boehner's plan, to extend current rates for all but those making more than $1 million, may be dead.
Boehner, sending his members home for the holidays, on Thursday night pressed the Senate to act.
"The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass," Boehner said in a statement. "Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff."
But the reality remains that any package to avert the crisis must pass both chambers. Boehner may be facing the balancing act of his political career. Democrats claimed that without a robust coalition of Republicans behind him, Boehner would have to compromise with them.
But if the speaker goes too far to the left, he could easily lose Republicans.
Boehner's Republican allies were fuming Thursday night at the course of events.
"It's the same 40 chuckleheads that screwed this place up," Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, said, referencing the conservative lawmakers who were opposed to raising tax rates at any level. "(Boehner's) done everything to make nice to them."
During an emergency conference meeting Thursday night, Fox News is told that Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., jumped up and implored members to reconsider. He asked: "Is this the best we can do? Is this the best we can do for John Boehner?"
Stock futures tumbled on the news out of Washington Thursday night, as some lawmakers expressed concern about what the development would mean for trading.
The House was able to pass a plan Thursday to replace automatic spending cuts set to hit next month. But in a sign of trouble ahead, it passed narrowly on a 215-209 vote. The House was later called into recess before the vote on the tax bill, and shortly afterward Boehner pulled the bill.
The tumult raised even more questions about how lawmakers, if at all, might be able to avoid the crushing wave of tax hikes and spending cuts poised to hit at the beginning of January.
In a statement Thursday night, the White House said the "President will work with Congress to get this done and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy."
The House bills, though, had been adamantly opposed anyway by Democrats in both chambers.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that the Senate would not take up the House bills.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney reiterated that "the president would veto it if it got to his desk."
After the House passed its first bill, to replace sweeping cuts to defense with cuts elsewhere in the budget, the White House again issued a formal veto threat.
Boehner and Obama had until early this week been engaged in seemingly productive talks toward a compromise package. The move to draft a "Plan B" might have been aimed at strengthening Boehner's negotiating position, as he tries to extract more spending cuts and more modest tax rate hikes from the White House as part of any deal. But Democrats were so angered by the new proposal that the future of talks is unclear.
On the sidelines, senior administration officials were claiming Thursday that Boehner turned to "Plan B" because he concluded he couldn't garner enough support for Obama's counterproposal in the House. That proposal would raise taxes only on income above $400,000, though Carney indicated that might not be Obama's final offer.
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel called the theory "stupid and untrue." He said Boehner was always clear "that he could not support the president's plan, let alone recommend it to members of the House."   
Boehner claimed Thursday that the problem is Obama is "unwilling to stand up to his own party" and demand serious spending cuts. "I did my part -- they did nothing," Boehner said, referencing his willingness to discuss raising tax rates.
It's unclear whether Boehner and Obama will return to the negotiating table -- or, as Boehner's statement implied, the House might simply await action on the Senate side.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/21/what-now-plan-b-stall-out-leaves-fiscal-crisis-solution-in-doubt/#ixzz2Fha3atvy

Lacking support, House pulls last-ditch cliff fix, heads home

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By Carrie Dann, NBC News

Updated 9:41 p.m. ET -- After a cancelled vote on a contingency bill and a dramatic defeat for Republican leadership, United States House members will head home for the Christmas holiday without legislative action to halt a mix of automatic spending cuts and tax increases set to take effect in just 11 days.  

Lacking enough support to pass a backup proposal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, House Republican leaders on Thursday night were forced to pull from the floor a vote on 'Plan B' legislation that would have preserved Bush-era tax rates for all earners making less than $1 million but raised rates on the country's top earners.

At the end of a week that began with high hopes for compromise on a bargain to correct the nation's fiscal course, Washington now appears further apart than ever.  

House Speaker John Boehner intended that his last-ditch tax effort, coupled with revised spending reductions, would give the GOP-dominated House continued leverage in its negotiations with the White House and the Senate, both controlled by Democrats. But it was ultimately brought down by conservative Republicans reluctant to raise tax rates on any Americans, even the nation's top earners.

The House will now recess for the Christmas holiday, leaders said. Members have been advised that the House will return "when needed" before the end of the year.

"The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement. "Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff.  The House has already passed legislation to stop all of the January 1 tax rate increases and replace the sequester with responsible spending cuts that will begin to address our nation's crippling debt.  The Senate must now act."

The Senate is expected to return to session after the Christmas holiday on December 27.

In a statement, the White House promised continued work with Congress.

"The President’s main priority is to ensure that taxes don’t go up on 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses in just a few short days. The President will work with Congress to get this done and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy."

Boehner proposed the "Plan B" legislation Tuesday, saying that it would provide a backstop to prevent middle class tax rates from jumping if a larger deal was not reached by the cliff's deadline at the end of the year.

But the measure was panned from both sides, with the White House calling it a political ploy that would be subject to a presidential veto and Senate Democrats pledging that it would not even be taken up for a vote in the upper chamber.

Tax watchdog Club for Growth also urged Republicans to vote "no" on the measure, as did conservative group Freedomworks -- which originally supported the Plan B effort before abruptly switching to opposition on Thursday afternoon. The socially conservative Family Research Council also scolded that "Congress should know better" before the vote.

Boehner and other GOP leaders had firmly indicated earlier Thursday that they had sufficient support to pass the Plan B legislation, along with another package of spending cuts. "We're going to have the votes to pass both the permanent tax relief bill as well as the spending reduction bill," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., told reporters at a press conference at the Capitol."

But a breakdown became evident after the GOP-dominated House only narrowly passed the package of spending reductions, which was intended to replace automatic defense cuts, or "sequestration." That measure, meant to encourage possible conservative dissenters to support the tax proposal, squeaked to victory by a margin of 215-209, with twenty-one Republicans voting against the bill.

The House then immediately went into an unexpected recess, with members huddled behind closed doors before announcing the end of votes for the evening.

A source in the room tells NBC News that Boehner made an impassioned plea for his members to support the bill, saying they would lose their negotiating power if they didn't pass it. But his pleas - and urging from an emotional Mike Kelly, R-Penn., were not enough to muster the needed votes.

Freshman lawmaker and public Boehner critic Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kansas, called the measure's defeat “a victory for Republican principles,” saying the GOP should not have to vote for "a show bill."

But fellow Republican Rep. Steve LaTourette of Ohio struck a mournful tune after the vote was abandoned.

"It's unbelievable, this is horrible," he said. "I'm angry, I'm sad for my friend the Speaker, and I'm sorry for the country.  We deserve better."