Deal Derailed? Boehner Says Not So Fast

March 31, 2011 11:43 AM

ABC News? Matthew Jaffe reports:

House Speaker John Boehner today disagreed with Democratic leaders who claimed that lawmakers had settled on a total number of spending cuts in a budget deal to keep the government running for the rest of the fiscal year.

�On Wednesday night, as George Stephanopoulos reported here first, both�parties had settled on the same dollar amount for�? $33 billion. That number was confirmed by Vice President Biden when he emerged from a meeting with Senate Democrats. But�he also cautioned that�the composition of those cuts was still up for discussion and ?there?s no deal until there?s a total deal.?

This morning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reiterated that lawmakers had reached an agreement on the number of spending cuts.

?We?re continuing to work very very hard to avoid the terrible consequences that would come with a government shutdown,? Reid said on the Senate floor. ?Democrats and Republicans have agreed upon a number on which to base our budget cuts ? that number is $73 billion below the President?s budget proposal. Now we have to figure out how to get to that 73 number.?

Not so fast, Boehner countered a bit later this morning.

?There?s no agreement on numbers and nothing has been agreed to until everything has been agreed to,? Boehner said at a news conference.

He vowed that Republicans will continue to fight for the spending cuts in the GOP?s controversial House-passed bill.

?It?s our position and we?re going to continue to fight for everything that?s in it,? he said.

But he indicated that no matter how much Republicans fight for the spending cuts they want, they should be aware of their limitations and may have to compromise in the end.

?We control one-half of one-third of the government here in Washington,? Boehner said. ?We can?t impose our will on another body. We can?t impose our will on the Senate. All we can do is to fight for all of the spending cuts that we can get an agreement to and spending limitations as well.?�

Outside the Capitol later today the Tea Party will hold a rally to urge Congress to go far beyond the $33 billion in spending cuts, an effort that Boehner said he welcomed.

?I?m glad that they?re here and I?m glad that they?re engaged in the process,? he said.

The Senate?s top Republican, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, also defended the Tea Party?s actions. �

?If you ask me, the goals of the Tea Party sound pretty reasonable,? McConnell said. ?These folks recognize the gravity of the problems we face as a nation, and they?re doing something about it for the sake of our future. They?re engaged in the debate about spending and debt ? which is a lot more than we can say about the President and many Democrats here in Congress. They?re making their voices heard. And they?ve succeeded in changing the conversation here in Washington from how to grow government to how to shrink it.�In my view, the Tea Party has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the most important issues of the day.?

But Reid argued that the Tea Party?s rally today was damaging to the budget talks.

?We can?t have what?s going on here with the Tea Party demonstrating, all these very harsh cuts with unrealistic riders punishing innocent folks just for political ideology,? Reid said. ?So we?ve got a lot more to do. I hope that this latest development is the beginning of the end of this crisis, because this isn?t the only crisis that we as a country are dealing with.?�

March 31, 2011 in Capitol Hill | Permalink | Share | User Comments (26)

User Comments

The Tea Party understands??? Get a life! McConnell. The leaders are in it to fight tax incresases on their billions, while their puppets think they have a cool name while fighting some sort of imagined Socialism. IT IS WHAT IT IS!

Posted by: parma hts gary | Mar 31, 2011 12:16:57 PM

This may be the first time I have EVER agreed with The Tan Man - he seems to recognize that there are limitations on what Republicans in the House can demand with regard to budget cuts. These are the consequences of elections, friends. The Tea Partiers are wasting their time protesting today. Democrats dismiss them, and no matter how much Republicans "welcome" the protests, they are irrelevant.

Posted by: Bolo | Mar 31, 2011 12:23:20 PM

One more thing: the top economists in this country and around the world state emphatically that austerity in the times of economic depression will only make things worse. Our Congress and POTUS must make very careful decisions regarding the budget. This country absolutely cannot stand a deeper recession.

Posted by: Bolo | Mar 31, 2011 12:25:05 PM

I am so tired of 20% of the people in this nation getting coverage like they are 80% of the country.

I didn't care before but now I really have grown to hate the tea party.

Posted by: Billy | Mar 31, 2011 12:34:51 PM

go tea party. reid and the dems. need their checkbook castrated.

Posted by: alamodefender | Mar 31, 2011 12:47:10 PM

top economists dont exist as they are no better than a weatherman just look at roemer from berkeley who designed the stimulus progrem. i f you dont have any money of your own you cant spend it unless you steal it or borrow it from someone else.the country is starting to get it in droves...no more freeloaders.

Posted by: catman | Mar 31, 2011 1:04:10 PM

"Bolo"...the tea partiers are clueless. They have no idea how our nation almost failed in'08 and '09. How close we came. Ever read "House of Cards" by willuiam Cohen? It should be "required reading" for anyone who "supports" the tea party or GOP. But none of these clueless people want to base their thinking and decisions on "knowledge and facts"; instead they want to just react emotionally on their shallow "bade up facts and soundbites". I repewat...what a clueless bunch. Please read the book. It is a-political but very instructive as to what is "wrong" with our system. A hint" it has to do with "total greed as defined by a wealthy oligarchy". And it won't change until the middle class realizes that they are NOT part of this "success" story and they then quit voting "conservative and GOP". They are so being scammed by "master manipulators".

Posted by: CND FOX | Mar 31, 2011 1:07:47 PM

What about all those new JOBS you tea soaked Republicans promised John?

How exactly does continuing Bush era tax advantages and slashing public jobs create new JOBS?

Posted by: green.goddess | Mar 31, 2011 1:11:53 PM

Democrats simply don't care about cutting the budget, they Don't Care what happens to the future of this country.
Why don't they care about the budget?
Most of the garbage/entitlements in the budget are Liberal programs.
Most of the liberal entitlement/social programs are complete failures.
Instead, Democrats want to eliminate homeowners mortgage interest deduction,
and that's something that will hurt the mmiddleclass.
Democrats don't care about the taxpayer oor the middle class, obviously.

Posted by: Paul | Mar 31, 2011 1:25:37 PM

green goddess...raise rates on everyone and i wont have a problem. every bracket goes up 3%.thats fair but we still will not have cured the problem of tooo much govt and tooo much govt spending but at least the tax increase will be fair.cut all subsidies including the tea party farmers.food will cost more and maybe we can trade a bushell of wheat for a barrel of oil.

Posted by: catman | Mar 31, 2011 1:32:53 PM

Shut it down! Our government under the clueless, Incompetent, and Arrogent Obama, Pelosi, and Reid is a total scam job. Stimulus for Union Bribes, and other Obama cronies. Health Care bought from the Insurance Companies, and Senate? Shut government down and send the three stuges packing to the unemployment line where they belong!

Posted by: Todd | Mar 31, 2011 2:09:24 PM

The Republicans have destroyed this country .The right wing Republicans have given us: (1) The financial crisis which has led to massive borrowing due to Republican failure to regulate the banks, (2) Bush's War which along with enormous tax cuts to the very wealthy in the face of trillions in unfunded war costs, (3) Big Brother spying on Americans and a whole list of additional Constitutional abuses which are just coming to light, (4) Huge government subsidies to corrupt war contractors like Blackwater and Haliburton. And these hypocritical, uninformed so called "Tea Party" bigots act so self-righteous when it is their heroes - the Bushes and Cheney's of this world that have placed us in the current economic mess.

But never fear, the Democrats will roll over time and again - they have no backbone and the caver-in-chief is Barack Obama.

Posted by: jefflz | Mar 31, 2011 3:05:24 PM

The Republicans are finally growing a spine! When will the Senate Democrats go on record with a budget proposal? Until then there is nothing from which to compromise from!

Posted by: Voice_Reason | Mar 31, 2011 3:06:05 PM

Yea, god forbid that the Republicans actually do something positive.

Posted by: Thomas | Mar 31, 2011 3:08:47 PM

I've read people blaming the debt on Democrats. It was Bush who got us out of the surplus we had and got us BACK into debt..BIG TIME. The additional debt we have now is to dig us out of the problems that Bush gave us.

Posted by: Thomas | Mar 31, 2011 3:10:32 PM

What is wrong with you people,are you all sitting at home getting some kind of government check that somebody elses hard work paid for. It's time to stop borrowing and spending. Funny how you liberals love the union demonstrations but can't stand the Teas Party's.

Posted by: Freedom | Mar 31, 2011 3:22:23 PM

Actually "FREEDOM" ...there is nothing "wrong" with us. Many of us worked hard, utilized some of that money for a good college education so that now we can actually read, research and analyze what is going on wrong with our country. And you know what I see? A bunch of simple minded, one dimensional people who lack analytical reasoning skills and who are too dumb to understand that they are being used by the conservatives and GOP to do their "dirty work" for them. So they themselves become richer. And all tge while those same "simple mimnded folks" own socioeconmic status...goes right down the toilet. Simple "black and white solutions do not exist for what "ails" this country...And tea partiers? They just are too simple minded to understand that. That is EXACTLY what is wrong with our country.

Posted by: CND FOX | Mar 31, 2011 3:55:03 PM

Talking about any of these cuts is ridiculous in their smallness. Taxes MUST be raised. The alternative is the risk of very high inflation -like we had during Reagan- that may destroy the buying power of your money much more than tax increases will.

Additionally, we've redistributed wealth so that the top 1% has gone from making 9% of America's income to 24%, but we've cut the average tax rate to 5% less than the Middle Class pays!

THAT is one place to fix at least $250B per year of deficits.

Posted by: The_Mick | Mar 31, 2011 4:28:12 PM

Budget Pharmacology

Way over in the corner,
Beset by fits and starts,
The trouble-makers loiter
And practice their black arts.

They just don?t keep their focus,
At least like you and I.
Their minds begin to wander;
Their thoughts go all awry.

When jolted by a crisis
They go into a state,
Unable to face problems
That make them concentrate.

Just take a look at Durbin
Whose thoughts have gone askew,
Ignoring our debt crisis
And lecturing on chew.

And how ?bout Charlie Schumer?s
Extremist conference call?
I?m worried ?bout that fellow;
He needs his Adderall.

Of course, there?s good old Harry
A Leader, sure as sin,
With poetry for cowboys:
Rush in the Ritalin!

And then we have odd Barney
The Bay State?s figurine,
Who?s introducing ENDA;
He?s out of Dexedrine.

We need the pharma lobby
To generate a pill,
That brings a little focus
To members on the Hill.

I know it?s hard to get there
For those with ADD,
But please just pass a budget,
That ends the spending spree!

Posted by: thebardofmurdock | Mar 31, 2011 6:11:48 PM

Be careful, you might make him cry...

Posted by: justayreal74 | Mar 31, 2011 7:30:22 PM

Rock & Hard Place

John can no longer act like it's 2009.
Business as Usual, ain't.

And splitting the debt baby no longer
works.

'Cause the DEBT is all grown up and causing paradigm shifts all over the place, maybe even on the Hill.

Choose the Rock, John.

Posted by: DJESQ | Mar 31, 2011 10:40:38 PM

It's not hard for the Dems to compromise a little.... coming up from $4.6 Billion isn't very hard!!!

Posted by: TheLoyalOpposition | Mar 31, 2011 11:01:33 PM

Georgie ---- Sure, we can cut some of the Defense Budget --- Will you agree to abolish the Dept of Education???? ----- In 1980 the annual budget was $14B. By 2001, the budget had risen to $42B. By 2006, the budget peeked at 100B during the ?No Child Left Behind? program, and had settled back to $65B by 2009. ---- And NOTHING IS BETTER after almost a TRILLION dollars has been pushed through this department!!!!! ------- New York State spends the most money per student and Utah spends the least per student in America. Yet the math and reading scores are basically identical despite an almost $10,000 per student difference.

Posted by: TheLoyalOpposition | Mar 31, 2011 11:05:47 PM

The Mick ----- Haven't you checked history.... raising tax rates does NOT equate to MORE revenue... but LOWERING the tax rates in the Kennedy, Reagan, Bush II era actually RAISED the revenue compared to GDP! --- You really must research more!!!

Posted by: TheLoyalOpposition | Mar 31, 2011 11:14:17 PM

THELOYALOPPOSITIONI, 11:14:17 PM, Said: "but LOWERING the tax rates in the Kennedy, Reagan, Bush II era actually RAISED the revenue compared to GDP!"
=====================================
LMAO!...yeah, sure....that's why under both Reagan and Bush II, both had to borrow so much that the amount the amount their administrations borrowed was more than the COMBINED TOTALS of all the presidents before them. (LOL!...and Reagan had a Republican Senate for his first 6 years, and Bush II had a FULL Republican congress for his first 6 years).

REAGAN
January 1981 to January 1987:

Jan '81 Debt Balance = $935 billion
(39 presidents and 205 years to get to $935 billion)

Jan '87 Debt Balance = $2.2 Trillion
(6 years of Reagan and a Republican Senate raised the balance by $1.3 Trillion...MORE THAN DOUBLE what they started with.)

BUSH II
January 2001 to January 2007

Jan '01 Debt Balance = $5.7 Trillion
Jan '07 Debt Balance = $8.7 Trillion
(Only 6 years of Bush II with a Republican Senate and a Republican House to raise the balance by $3.0 Trillion).

LOL!....right-whiners and their "theory" about "tax reductions result in increased revenue"...LMAO!...what a joke.

Here's my basic question to you LoyalOP:

"If it's so true, then, WHY ALL THE BORROWING UNDER THESE 2 PRESIDENTS? (Larger than all the presidents before them, put together!)"

Posted by: Georgie_Bushie | Apr 1, 2011 6:21:07 AM

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