Thursday, October 10, 2013

Boehner is playing with a good hand

House Republican leaders said Thursday they will offer a temporary increase in the federal debt ceiling in exchange for negotiations with President Obama on longer-term “pressing problems,” but they stopped short of agreeing to end a government shutdown now in its 10th day. (italics mine)

In a news briefing following a closed-door meeting of House Republicans to present a plan to raise the debt limit for six weeks, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said, “What we want to do is offer the president today the ability to move a temporary increase in the debt ceiling.” He described the offer, to be presented to Obama in a White House meeting with House Republicans on Thursday afternoon, as a “good-faith effort on our part to move halfway to what he’s demanded in order to have these conversations begin.”

Obama is “happy” that House Republicans agree a federal debt default is not an option, but he would prefer a longer extension of the debt limit, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
Boehner did not immediately provide specifics of the plan. But the speaker made clear that House Republicans are not agreeing to Obama’s demand that they pass legislation to fund the government with no partisan strings attached, thereby ending the first government shutdown in 17 years.

Asked about the shutdown, Boehner said, “That’s a conversation we’re going to have with the president today.”

Washington Post

24 comments:

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

One good thing is that the Federal Register of shit your government can ruin you with is not getting any thicker right now. It's only thick enough to crush you, but it can't yet push the greasy stain of your former being through the Earth's crust and vaporise it in the mantel. That will have to wait until after we restart the government and pay everyone for being off work.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Inside baseball is riveting by comparison.

Rabel said...

Holy Moly

I said a few days ago that the president doesn't handle pressure well and might just pop. I would call this incredibly stupid decision to reject a military death benefit bill passed by both the house and senate a pop. Or at least a splooge.

Paco Wové said...

"...the speaker made clear that House Republicans are not agreeing to Obama’s demand that they pass legislation to fund the government with no partisan strings attached..."

What non-partisan strings has Obama demanded?

Revenant said...

What they need to do, regarding the shutdown, is demand a one-year delay in the individual mandate and device tax to match the delay in the employer mandate.

Pick that as the issue and hammer it. Americans hate the mandate. If Republicans are clear that that's all they are asking for, they win.

Calypso Facto said...

Did you watch the Sean Duffy / MSNBC interview, Rev? First clear enunciation of the House position I've heard (ala your suggestion).

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Boehner is playing with a good hand

Not to be confused with Hand is playing with a good Boehner.

Wait, am I pronouncing that right?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Andrea Mitchell - LOL.
If she cannot pedal the party line, she becomes rather speechless.

Revenant said...

Did you watch the Sean Duffy / MSNBC interview, Rev?

Nah, I haven't watched TV in years. I've been hearing Democrats float the idea, though.

Not surprising. Most Democrats don't like the mandate either. They like it even less now that the system they're supposed to get their mandated insurance through isn't working.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Now if Boehner could learn to articulate the message - perhaps we can clean the floor with the corrupt and economically inept democrats -- for a change?

ricpic said...

Nothing rhymes with orange so a poem about Boehner is out of the question.

edutcher said...

Barry is below 37 right now - that's worse than Dubya after the housing crash.

A few more petty stunts and he'll be where Dubya was when he left office.

And that's with 3 years left to go.

Could our Messiah end up in single digits?

Methadras said...

I'm sick of Boehner trying to look and act tough. He does neither in his (in)articulation of his plan. Go out there and call the president what he is, a fucking giant, spoiled child who doesn't want the government to get smaller, but bigger. Meaning, he wants to take more of your hard earned tax dollars and spend them wrecklessly without any regard to holding them to a budget.

bagoh20 said...
... That will have to wait until after we restart the government and pay everyone for being off work.


As I predicted would happen.

Methadras said...

Boehner: My friends on the other side enjoy having the government shut down and in doing so, they've denied WW2 vets the ability to visit their memorials because they are barricaded at the presidents behest, denied benefits for their fallen brothers in current theaters of operations and to their families, and have usurped peoples private property rights that are on federal land and keeping them from getting to their homes and to their businesses. Also, for letting illegal aliens rally on the national mall with a personal thank you from Rep. Pelosi for letting them do so while citizens could not.

Pelosi: Thank you Mr. President for letting us bring in more democrat voters.

Reid: I like eggs.

Rabel said...

Sweet Bleeding Jeebus.

I watched the broadcast network news (I do this for you, Lemites, because I care) along with 22 million other people and the situation may just be hopeless.

The anchors were on the verge of tears over what those heartless republicans are doing to our country for partisan political gain. The people hate them and love Obama who is trying his best to do the right, smart thing for America but the evil republicans want the veterans to starve.

Also, Obamacare is having a few volume related problems bcause it is so popular.

If I believed what I was just told, I would be ready to join the revolution. Forward!

bagoh20 said...

Sean Duffy was awesome in that interview, and there is more of it that's great. He's not doing anything more that stating the simple Republican position that nobody else seems able to say out loud, and it totally wins the argument, which is why Mitchell is left with nothing but some rewarmed lies and silence.

The battle is very one sided except on the facts. They should just remind people of what those are over and over.

bagoh20 said...

Everybody in the media keeps asking Republicans why they insist on fighting this over a law that was duly passed and OK'd by the Supreme Court. It's the law of the land now they say.

1) Nobody knew what the law was when they passed it, and still don't today, but they have learned enough to overwhelming not want it now.

2) When you see a train coming you don't have to stand there and get hit, just because it's on schedule. Obamacare will probably never work, but even if it will, it's obviously not ready now anyway. It should at the very least be delayed.

3) If it's the law of the land, then why is the President changing, delaying and exempting all over the damned thing? The President is not a second legislative branch.

4) Can we really not change our minds about a law now? Is that the new meaning of "Progressive"?

I'm Full of Soup said...

I actually think it would be a goo idea to pass spending bills by cabinet department - do one every month of the year.

Except the biggest depts. defense, social security and medicare [these are the core govt services today] and homeland security should be done once a year and together.

I think it would be enlightening and good theater if we did these remaining 11 depts. one a month each year:
State
Justice
Interior
Agriculture
Commerce
Labor
Education
HUD
Transportation
Energy
Education

I bet after a year or two a few of these depts. would be gutted or axed if we can get the taxpayers to pay attention.

Revenant said...

Everybody in the media keeps asking Republicans why they insist on fighting this over a law that was duly passed and OK'd by the Supreme Court. It's the law of the land now they say.

The response I like giving to that is "so was Don't Ask Don't Tell".

Or, alternately, "Obamacare is the law of the land. The funding for it isn't. You want the funding, you negotiate."

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

By the title of the post, it's good to know you care more about how things augur for the Republican party than about what's good for the country.

bagoh20 said...

Ritmo, Don't you read the news? Don't you pay any attention to the vast majority of media and pundits? This is terrible for Republicans. They are destroying themselves in this quest to hurt the political future of a President that has no political future anyway. They are self destructing just like you want, and for no good reason. It's a dream come true.

Known Unknown said...

Boehner should really just let Duffy talk in his stead.

Boehner is pretty awful at the whole optics and articulation thing.