WASHINGTON — House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner faced an embarrassing setback on Thursday when he failed to unite his Republican lawmakers behind an effort designed to extract concessions from President Barack Obama in year-end “fiscal cliff” talks.
The surprise development cast more uncertainty on the year-end budget talks that aim to prevent across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts that could push the U.S. economy into recession next year.
Boehner had hoped to show that he has the full support of his party by passing a bill, known as “Plan B,” through the House that would limit income-tax increases to the wealthiest sliver of the population, far less than Obama wants.
But he canceled the vote after failing to round up enough support from his party and sent lawmakers home for the Christmas holiday.
“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 after huddling with other Republican leaders.
Representative Harold Rogers of Kentucky said he did not know what will happen next.
Obama and Boehner aim to reach a deal before New Year, when taxes will automatically rise for nearly all Americans and the government will have to scale back spending on domestic and military programs. The $600 billion hit to the economy could push the U.S. economy into recession.
Obama and Boehner have vowed that they will reach a deal before then. But so far, negotiations appear to be following the dysfunctional pattern set by the 2011 battle over the debt ceiling: fitful progress alternating with public posturing. During those talks, Boehner also struggled to corral the most conservative members of his own party.
Washington narrowly avoided defaulting on the U.S. government’s debt in August 2011, but the down-to-the-wire nature of the effort prompted a first-ever debt downgrade and spooked investors and consumers.
This time around, concern over the fiscal cliff has weighed on markets but analysts say that investors appear to be assuming that the two sides will avert disaster.
Boehner’s bill would have put Republicans on the record as supporting a tax increase on those who earn more than $1 million per year — a position the party opposed only weeks ago.
Obama wants to lower the threshold to families earning more than $400,000.
Lawmakers had hoped to wrap up work before the year-end Christmas break, but leaders in both the House and the Senate have indicated that they may call members back to work next week.
Boehner said it is now up to Obama to first pass a bill through the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Additional reporting by Kim Dixon and Rachelle Younglai
Herding Rs/TPs is like herding cats.
The TP has a suicide pact. No, wait they think that digging in their heels is the only way they’ll pass the next primary in their allegedly safe, Gerrymandered district. Let’s prove them wrong, regardless of how this comes out.
The TP lost and lost badly in Nov.Eight of the Tea Party Ten lost and nearly all of those had a ton more dark money which got them nothing.McConnell and Bachmann are both in trouble as well.Progressivism is back in a big way across the country.The best bang for their buck?Planned Parenthood.I’m so happy my money did such good things.They just got $35 to start 2013 with more to come.
I think we just did.
Boehner is not likely to retain the speaker-ship at this rate.
What a shame that would be. At least the House would save money on Kleenex.
yes and consider the alternative ….he got roasted by his OWN party.. They eat their own. It marvelous, and at the same time, sad to watch .Winning even within their own party is more important then “serving” the American people.
There is more than one definition of “serve” and in this socio-economic climate each definition is an antonym to the other.
Conservatives define “serve” as the bottom-up understanding that government needs to be limited in order to preserve the individual freedoms of the American people thus “serving” their need to live their lives pursuant of their happiness without governmental control.
Progressive liberals are forcing a top-down definition of “serve” as a seaside, governmental serving tray, every glass filled to the brim to satisy every taste. Food? Housing? Medical care? Obama phones? “How else may I-I-I-I-I serve you as long as THEY’RE paying?”
This is less a Congressional issue than one of our own. Of course, you can choose to simply blame all of them cause that’ll solve everything and it won’t be your fault.
Nonsense.
It’s a cook book!!
What difference does it make if Obama passes a bill through the Senate? Boehner can’t deliver the House.
It’s time for House Democrats and any House Republicans with common sense to get behind Obama’s current offer.
I hope our trip over the fiscal cliff doesn’t interupt Obama’s family vacation.
Or LePage’s.
Or Boner’s.
LePage isn’t on vacation. He just spoke in Bangor. Where have you been?
Neither is Obama – making the comment appropriate.
He brain-farted in Bangor.
Congress is on vacation too, try and keep up with the news.
Or yours, dhauboecg.
Teabaggers, one-time slot… I hope they enjoy their ride! I feel their holiday needs to be cancelled, their paychecks ON HOLD till they produce…
It’s what our forefather calls a faction or a passing “fad”.
Wow so what, let it come. we are already off the cliff. Wont change a darn thing one way or another. Either way it goes the ones getting screwed is the working class.
Somehow I don’t think those getting a tax hike (that could have been prevented) will see it that way once it actually comes to pass. Many say let it ride now, though when they have a few less grand in their pocket, I think they’ll change their tune. (and of course blame Obama)
“If we have to have our taxes raised, everyone else does too” sums up the GOP stance. The 1% truly dictating terms for the 99%…somethings wrong with that picture.
either way we get a tax hike. Don’t believe a thing either party says anymore. The country was lost long before obama .
America is resilient. It’s not lost. We’ll need to decrease spending and increase revenue gradually and come up with realistic long term plans and perspectives. Our economy is not going to crash and burn.
I think allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire completely over time is a good idea, though trying to preserve the cuts, at least for lower income earners at this point in time, would be wise – both for them and for the economy as a whole.
I find it interesting that the article does not mention that the taxes on the rich will also go up if nothing happens. The Bush tax cuts for the rich will also expire.
I also find it interesting that Bonehead is trying to get concessions from the President when the November election showed that the GOP/TP does not have the level of support it likes to believe it has. Why should he concede when he has a mandate from the American people? GWB would not have done so.
LMAO….mandate
Winning by more than 3 million votes and a boatload more of electoral votes than Romney got is in fact a mandate. GWB claimed one with far less.
Obama actually got almost 5 million more votes and was only the 6th president in the entire history of the US to win 2 terms with at least 51% of the vote.
.
Exit polling gave even stronger support to raising taxes on the higher earners and not touching Medicare or Social Security
“I have a mandate and plan to use it” …George W Bush., 2004
That fool deserves a man-date in prison.
Got that right! He, Cheney, and Rove took a budget surplus and put us into the worst economic malaise since the Great Depression of last century. On top of that they started 2 wars, the longest wars in American history. They all belong in jail!
A “mandate” is simply the authority granted by a constituency to act as its representative. That would include a constituency comprised of the majority. Newscasters misuse “mandate” by attaching meaningless adjectives like “wide” and “large” but in the USA all a president needs to claim he has a mandate is to get the largest share of voters.
Oh that’s right, the TPs won huh? Idjit.
Cut Congressional benefits if you want to see some concession reached fast. It never ceases to amaze me that they’ll cut everything but their own salary and benefits. There must be some way to get a law passed to make that happen.
I agree, but it would literally take “an act of Congress”, and I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Not necessarily. Check out http://www.campaignconstitution.com. The proposals, I believe, would make sense to the vast majority of Americans since most of us know Congress as a whole has limitations that it clearly cannot overcome. Aquarian35 has hit the nail on the head. Any person or group who has the job of spending someone else’s money has an innate capacity to take care of themselves first. It is not that they are bad people. It is driven by one of human natures elements, survival. They want re-election and benefits for life, and they will place these slightly ahead of our Nations survival. Sadly, most of us would do the same if we were there. Check out campaignconstitution.com. I am sure the ideas are not perfect either, but it sure seems like a good way of dealing with a dysfunctional Congress.
Flydoc you have hit the nail on the head – job protection. Our elected representatives have to pay back their perceived voters. They ran on “no new taxes”, or “tax the RICH” and they can’t back away from their promises or they will be voted out the next election, This political devide is difficult to bridge, and the true cause of our dysfunctional congress lays in the lap of the voters.
But, there are already bills passed by the house addressing the “fiscal cliff”. They are setting in the Senate awaiting action. Sen Reid is setting on them so he can BLAME republicans for going over the cliff. Normally the senate would pass their version of these bills and send it back to the house to conference committee to iron out the differences and send it to the President for his signature or veto.
The politics of BLAME is at work here.
BS.
Heck eliminate their pay and demand a rebate. They have done NO work for 2 years. They are playing us for the fool.
Agreed , we need to cut spending right where it starts ! Give them all minimum wage , put them in to the social security retirement system , make them lease $200. cars from Chrysler instead of the $800. cars we pay for , pay them only for the hours that they work , limit them to one term. I would also ban lobbiests , PAC’s and special interest groups and prohibit and ammendments to new laws unless they served only to clarify or answer questions pertaining to that bill. I’d bet that would get their attention. The citizens of the U.S. will probably have to converge on Washington to get any of this done. Imagine how quickly things would change if suddenly every taxpaying citizen showed up at their door !
I always questioned why the President and only the President is term limited.There is NO reason why Byrd and Helms should’ve been clogging up the Congress into their 90’s.Even cardinals over 80 can’t vote for the Pope.
The people who are always touting “freedom” on this board seem to not know the meaning of the word. FREEDOM gives people the right to select the person they want to represent them. If the people of Massachusetts want Kerry to serve until he dies, that is their right. If the people of Maine want Susan Collins to serve for forty years, then they have the right to keep electing her.
We have term limits in this country. Every two years “We The People” can throw out, or re elect all of the house members, and 1/3rd of the senate. E#very four years we get to toss, or keep, the President.
I have no yen to tell Ohio’s citizens that John Boehner is not an option for them, nor do I wish to tell Nevadans that Harry Reid is off the list of citizens eligible to represent that State in the Senate.
Freedom to elect whom you choose. isn’t that what this nation is all about?
That’s true in theory but rarely in practice.The thing is the President is the only one who is specifically limited by law by the 50’s R Congress that hated FDR.Something like 90% of all incumbents are re-elected.My point is the Congress,SC and the President are treated differently.There is NO reason judges are there for life.
The reason judges are there for life is that this puts them beyond control of the politicians, and gives stability to the law.
Brennan, Warren, Stevens, and Souter would have been pulled by the very people who appointed them if they had not been insulated from politics.
I don’t think that would bother them much. it seems that most Congressmen leave office as multi-millionaires. They didn’t get that money in their regular paycheck! Money talks and Bullpoop walks. Norquist has so much power over the Repubs because he pays them more than we do.
Grover is soooo over.
I agree with this sentiment but for different reasons. Congressional salaries and pension benifits accounts for a drop in the bucket of the total budget. However, there is too much incentive to make politics a career not a service or duty. mininum wage and military style mess halls for congress and bunk houses and 1 term limits.
Boner needs to step up and be a leader and stop worrying about the circle jerk popularity contest in DC.
What if 435 average workaday americans who are able to manage and balance their checkbooks were in office? Who manage to work a 40-60 hour week raise two kids and keep an honest clean home.
If nothing else, it is entertaining to watch the Republican party implode in the wake of the miserable loss they suffered on election day. They don’t seem to be able to keep the wheels on.
I’d like to see Angus introduce that.
Angus introduce a bill not in his own best interests? Don’t hold your hand on your butt waiting for that.;
But it IS in his interest to introduce such a bill.
Let me get this straight; You think it is in Angus’ best interest to cut his salary and benefits?
Please explain.
The bill would never pass but the political capital gained would go a long way.
Boehner is a worthless piece of dung. That this bribe-taking bum boy for the rich could be re-elected after his performance this last term is a testimony to the deep seated stupidity of the American electorate.
He serves only a small cabal of very rich people, whose agenda is to continue to stick it to the rest of us even if it means the ruin of the country.
He should resign and get lost.
Well, really, he should receive a jail sentence, but justice in this country is an illusion.
The whole party is a bribe taking bum The GOOD news? The AMERICAN people can not be bought; even if their leaders can be.Thank you American people for standing up for YOURSELVES and us!!!
Oh plezzzzze The “American people” (I’m assuming you mean citizens of the USA) are purchased all the time by both parties. They are purchased with free medication, free health care, Social Security, Student loan forgiveness, Wall Street bail outs (yeah bankers are people too.) union gifts, ^They are purchased with welfare, methadone, and block grants. and they are bought off with jobs, Federal give backs and tax breaks to certain groups in return for votes.
This time they were bought by Obama, last time by George Bush, and the time before that Clinton.
You may be correct about the American electorate. 2012; just saying.
his eyes are EVIL!! look at him twice…
If we needed any further proof that Tea Party Republicans put their flawed ideology above The United States of America this is it. For goodness sake they not only will not back The President, they won’t even back their own Speaker. It is more important to the Tea Party members of Congress to do what Grover Norquist wants then to put their Country first. The Country is headed over the fiscal cliff, the Republican party is spliting apart, but all the Tea Party Congess memebers gives a damn about is Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and what ever other right wing talking head says. To them all that is important is putting Ideology ahead of Country. The average American is going to see their taxes rise on January. All because the Tea Party Republicans are protecting the wealthy.
It’s not the Tea Party that is bankrupting this country. It’s Obama and his Democratic Chicago mobsters!
Since your post is devoid of FACTS, let’s take a look at a few of them:
1) Of the $16 trillion federal deficit, the REPUBLICANS are responsible for $12 TRILLION;
2) TARP was a BUSH plan;
3) During the BUSH presidency, the GOP leadership voted to RAISE the debt ceiling NINE (9) times;
4) Under Ronald Reagan, the debt ceiling was RAISED EIGHTEEN (18) times;
5) The MAJORITY of the “new” federal debt is a result of the costs for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars actually being INCLUDED in the federal budget rather than HIDDEN as supplemental in the budgets of George W. Bush:
6) Ronald Reagan TRIPLED (300%) the federal debt, George W. Bush DOUBLED (200%) the federal debt; Obama increased it by 33%;
7) The Bush tax cuts have NOT paid for themselves. Apparently, little Georgie didn’t learn a thing fron Uncle Ronald who discoverd that his tax cuts actually did nothing causing him to RAISE taxes eleven times.
I could go on for a while, but I think you catch my drift. Spouting right-wing mindless rhetoric does nothing but succeed in making you look ignorant. Hope you have a nice day.
Thank you!
Wow in all those years not one democrat ever got elected to congress? Shocking that your arrogance doesn’t place any blame on the dems.
They got outvoted by Republicans. Check your history.
Hummm. Ronald Reagan had two years with a small Republican majority in the Senate. Then six years where Democrats controlled both houses of congress. George H.W. Bush worker with Democratic majorities in both houses of congress. George W. Bush never had a veto proof majority in either house, and Democrats DID have such a majority in the first two years of the Obama presidency.
Democrats were out-voted by whom?
Well actually they were out voted, by the people when Clinton and Company tried to push National Health Care down our throats in 1993 The Dems were voted out of office en-mass. but that was by us. the people.
Politicians love sheep and there sure are enough of those around today.
that is devoid of facts
never stops you ;)
Let’s sing along with mainemajority. “Fairytales can come true, it can happen to you………”You keep peddling your tea party BS Mainemajority. Of course hardly anyone believes it anylonger. But keep on peddling it.
Ummm, let’s review this article: Now which party was it that couldn’t agree with it’s own Speaker’s plan? People are ranting about both parties making concessions, hell, the House Republicans can’t even cooperate among themselves, due mainly to Tea Party demands. The more and more the house republicans don’t get along, the less and less legitimate they are as the ruling party of the House. Get it yet?
Today’s quote from Benjamin Disraeli(born 12/21/1881)
“A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy”
Today’s quote from John Adams (October 19, 1735– July 4, 1826) “A boy of 15 who is not a democrat is good for nothing, and he is no better who is a democrat at 20.”
John Adams was a Federalist, who at the time, believed in a strong centralized government. However, he did support many of the then Democrats, who believed in individual liberties. In today’s world, a “Federalist” would be today’s democrat, and the then Democrats can be equated to today’s Republicans. During the time of the Civil War, the then Republicans would be equated with today’s democrats, and those Democrats of the 1840’s 50’s and 60’s were the conservative branch. It’s always dangerous quoting the Founding Father’s because people try to put their perspectives into today’s world, the two just don’t jive political party wise.
I’m no big fan of JA but McCullough’s bio of him is well worth reading.Anything McCullough writes is very good.
Gosh you are so smart. I bet all your friends are really impressed.
IN their world fantasy is reality . When you count on PR alone for your marketing , eventually you have to show whether your ptoduct is any good Their product is deeply and fatally flawed. It is NOT what the America people ordered . RIP/GOP
You dont even know what the tea party is or what they stand for
Is that the best you’ve got Chuckie? Really. What the tea party started out to be and what they are today are two very different things. If you can’t see it you are the one who doesn’t know.
“All because the Tea Party Republicans are protecting the wealthy.”
Which is very interesting… The TP was a populous movement which was comprised of lots of rank and file people that are by no means wealthy, but co-opted by the wealthy… the Karl Rove’s, the Koch brothers, the Dick Armey’s, the Grover Norquist’s… and their organizations… to protect the wealthy as if doing so somehow makes the lot in life of the rank and file better… If the rank and file middle class worker displaced by the wealthy’s mandate to maximize corporate profits and shareholder value came together in a real populous movement that DEMANDED good paying jobs, fairer wages, more progressive policies in taxes, education, health care… you might see this country become more stable, a better economy, jobs actually benefiting the middle class and not just the CEO’s and taskmasters. Instead policies that favor INEQUALITY continue to take from the middle and bottom earners and redistribute that income and wealth UPWARDS…
Off the cliff will be okay with me. Since these thieves are only going to throw whatever money away they will get, let the taxes go up for everyone. Let the spending cuts take place. That is probably the only way to get them to stop spending and actually cut anything. The only thing taxing just the rich more does is make the jealous class warfare sheep feel good and think they really stuck it to them. It accomplishes nothing and lets the sheep bleat louder. Since all the sheep claim Bush’s tax cuts were so bad, this will put us ALL back to where they were…for everyone.
You continually seem to ignore the facts. The rich USE more government services to obtain and keep their wealth. The regular Joe lunchbox types don’t have much use for a cargo port or a little war in Iraq to protect off-shore corporate interests. The government (neither Democrat or Republican) bailed out the unemployed, the underwater home-owner, or the laid off Maytag workers, but they sure got jumping when G.M. and Chrysler were going belly up, and when Citi Bank, the Bank of America, and The insurance industry were sinking in a sea of debt. The government gave them so much money that the guys who ruined the companies got million+ dollar bonuses. A gift for doing bad. Ever hear of a line worker getting even a c-note for ruining a company’s production?
Don’t tell me about class warfare. I worked in a textile mill. The “class warfare has been present all during my life, the difference now-a-days is that the worker, you know that guy who actually makes stuff you can use? He is getting beat to death.
There should be no Christmas break or any other sort of recess or vacation until they get the work done that they’re paid to do. I think the country is getting a little tired of this posturing.
exactly …except they already went home
Says it all, doesn’t it. I wonder if their staffs went home, because I’m sure they have NO problem telling other people not to leave until their work is done.
Lol, If you think the “Government” doesn’t already take enough money in to pay all of its bills I got a nice bit of swampland to sell ya.
Do we have a president? Where is the presidential leadership? There isn’t any!!
Obama has made concrete proposals and agreed to substantial compromises.
.
Boehner won’t allow a vote on them because he is afraid enough Republicans will put country before party and they will pass.
If anything,Obama has already given away too much while Boehner hasn’t coughed up a meaningful dime.
Obama has not proposed meaningful cuts. This country is doomed if we don’t stop handing out money. If you confiscate every dollar in net worth from every US billionaire, it will only balance the budget once. We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
Blow that out your stern.
(nobody says that better)
:)
Obama proposed nearly a trillion dollars in cuts. That is more than Boehner had in his plan!
Really? Would you like him to sucker punch Eric Cantor? He should because that’s the only kind of leadership those little twerps would understand. What exactly do you have in mind- Obama and Boehner have been trying and negotiating- the House T-Party crew are refusing to compromise an inch.
I’d say Cantor just sucker punched Boehner..We are all just witnesses to this political drama.
congress proposes. They aren’t doing THEIR job .Obama hasn’t had to do a darned thing. He could have just sat by and watched congress self implode. He didn’t .
Go away troll.
Funny, its congress that originates these bills, People yell that Obama is taking too much power, then people like you think its okay to take over from congress. Its the houses job to start bill of this nature. They are not doing their job. Heck they couldn’t even get their own bill out of the house.
Boehner and company keep insisting on cuts that hurt the poorest among us but do NOTHING to reduce the deficit.
.
I agree with this quote from our president:
.
“Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit. Social Security is totally funded by the payroll tax levied on employer and employee. If you reduce the outgo of Social Security, that money would not go into the general fund to reduce the deficit. It would go into the Social Security Trust Fund. So Social Security has nothing to do with balancing a budget or erasing or growing the deficit.
…except they never put a lock box on SS.
Most of the American people, the White House, the Senate and House Democrats want to find a solution. The T-Party Republicans want Grover’s blessing and Rush’s accolades. They remind me of 7th graders- so awkward, pimply and fawning for attention. Have you seen a picture of Eric Cantor?
So…we’re all held hostage by this gang of minions? How sweet it ain’t
We should stop negotiating with the hostage takers and get Obama’s proposal voted on. I believe enough House Republicans will put country before party, vote with the Democrats, and get it passed
.
This only requires about 26 R votes and the number will be even lower come January since Republicans lost seats in the election.
The only “life” the TEA Party has is that which so called LEADERS gave them..
You were like that in seventh grade? I’m sorry for you, but after raising over 100 teenagers I never met the child you describe.
Boehner, you might have had better luck if you didn’t name your plan for a morning-after pill. :)
True enough.R’s hate Plan B or anything involving a woman’s choice.
I am a conservative, and will say this loud and clear. Any of the Republicans that did not support the “Plan B” put forth by the Speaker are cowards. The ball is now in the court of the President to get a deal done…..his deal will be driving this county off the “fiscal cliff”. It is high time that we the citizens hold these politicians accountable to do the job that they are getting paid for. If they can’t do their jobs they should be kicked to the curb.
The ball is in the court of the Republicans to support the will of the American people. Not to blackmail the nation by refusing to pass anything that does not continue the unsustainable tax giveaway to the very wealthiest Americans.
President Obama is not offering anything in the way of meaningful spending cuts that will actually do something to lower our debt. You can’t increase taxes by 1.6 trillion and only offer to cut spending by $800 billion and propose additional stimulus spending to boot. There needs to be two to three dollars of spending cuts for every dollar of additional tax increases. You stated “The ball is in the court of the Republicans to support the will of the American people.” Unless Obama got 100% of the vote in the last election it is not the will of ALL the people. His problem is that his opinion of compromise is the it is his way only.
The miserable TeaCreeps lost big time and by the mid-terms what’s left of them will be a smelly stain upon our political history.
Try reading Civics, you might just walk away with an understanding of
how American government is structured and the role each branch has, Congress in particular.
The ball remains firmly in the Congressional Republican’s court. They just bobbled their serve. When they can get their act together and actually complete a serve their opponents, the Congressional Democrats will have a chance to return the ball. Obama’s obligation is to referee the Congressional proposals. From what reliable media reports, Obama has explained what he would like, and would not like. Congress needs to put something on his desk ASAP if they want the ball to be in his court.
This “fiscal cliff” has been in the making for decades, with congress critters of both parties bearing responsibility for its growth. It will take critters from both parties giving up their dreams of re-election and working together to reverse the damage done by their predecessors.
The party of Lincoln is now a house divided and cannot stand. Their leadership has failed. They still believe the fantasy that is passed off as fact by the monied interests that control their media and their re-election. It is ironic that they are motivated by a fear of the government controlling them but willing submit to the control of a Norquist or a Koch or an Adelson to satisfy their need for wealth and power.
Well actually its still in the house, you know the place where these types of bill originate.
The reason that the Republicans defected from Boehner’s “plan b” was because they were convinced by TeaParty operatives that the plan wasn’t “good” enough. The bottom line is that the Tea Party would rather sell out the country than see a reasonable budget plan passed.
The reality is that either party would sell out the country in a minute (and has) for one extra dollar in their own pocket.
My disgust for politicians just keeps on growing.
He is a Big Boner….!!!!
The R party is a train wreck. And Boehner and Cantor and Rove and Norquest and Army and Newt and DeMint and the tea party and libertarians and the Heritage center and Freedom works and American crossroads and Americans for prosperity and the Koch boys and Adelsen and other” so called ” leaders are creating the wreck .
Mere symbolism and rhetoric and platitudes and spin ans PR can’t sustain them any more.
When it comes to actually DOING any work or any job or delivering ANYTHING that helps America or Americans they come up short .They are an empty shell and empty vessel, a poor substitute for what used to be a GRAND ‘Ole Party
They have destroyed them selves from the inside out., with vultures nibbling from the outside in .RIP GOP
Flash: we are all disappointed, but not surprised.
Some of us may actually not be disappointed.
This is getting Tea-dious !
I don’t see an act of Congress making this happen either, but it could be done by an act of the people. There’s an old saying in Maine…As Maine goes, so goes the nation. Why can’t Maine lead the way on this? Whether it’s through working with our Congressional delegation or forming a group to develop a petition or other means of making this change happen. I’m sure there are enough people in this nation who think exactly like we do.
The cliff Republicans need worry most about is the sheer wall on each side of the canyon running through the middle of their party.
“Boehner said it is now up to Obama to first pass a bill through the Democratic-controlled Senate.” So he’s waiting for Obama to negotiate with himself again? Hopefully Obama has learned how unsuccessful that is. Let all the rates go back to where they were before Bush. It will help us pay off the debt. Let the spending get cut. It will help us pay off the debt. Maybe then we can stop spending on supersized military adventurism.
And nothing will prevent the Republicans from proposing tax cuts for the wealthy and proposing an increase in spending levels.
To quote the President everybody loves to hate: Mr. Obama “needs to stay the course”.
This is precisely why I did not vote for Charlie Summers. He would have been waiting in the Senate to do the same silly crap.
how long do you think that the country can borrow 75% of it’s budget? No one on this Planet can do that.. Either way the Federal Reserve notes are done this comming year.
It can’t go on. But shall we let the damn ship sink simply because some of us don’t agree on exactly what order to make repairs? Hardly.
Its near the end of the Republican Party and their attempt to isolate the very wealthy. Now, is the time to do away with our outdated 2 party system and create something with more balance. I believe a 20% flat tax would be the fair way to go.
It would seem many in the GOP are simply scared to death of Norquist. Fearing his wrath is in the way of anything getting accomplished.
Norquist and Rove and Limbaugh are dead.
Keep voting for these two fake parties. Divide and conquer!
It’s over folks. Civil disobedience is what we have left. These corporate shills do the bidding of big banks big business and AIPAC. They don’t care about us. Stop playing along! And stop listening to these supposed ” news” sources, just more corporate shills…..
Stop the ridiculous two bs! It’s killing us! We need to come together. Turn of the tv and start thinking! Please
You’re asking for people to think…. I’m afriad that concept is way in the past.
Yeah, I’m afraid it’s all in vain. It’s over as far as I can see. They’ll come for the guns next.
Maybe stage another mass shooting? Wo knows? These evil scumbags are capable of true evil. Yet the majority of Americans think voting for one of two fake parties is going to change things!! it’s madness. The insecurity and ignorance regarding the fake American political circus is staggering….
They just don’t get it….when a politician D or R gets into office they’re handed a book that states their “Job Description”…it’s an easy read….two words…Get Re-Elected.
It does. And when new members are told that they are expected to spend 30 hours each week *fundraising* for their Party, you just know We the People are not their important constituency.
Well said, I couldn’t agree more.
My fav quotes by Mark Twain:
1. “There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.”
2. “We have the best Congress money can buy.”
3. “Ready, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
The Republican/Tea Party is destroying our country.
No it’s not.. They are actually trying to save it from it’s certain demise if these paths continue to be followed..
BULL-ony. I’m afraid you’re blinded by your own partisanship.
On the one hand you decry the Federal deficit, but on the other hand you refuse to support raising revenue.
You can not effectively lower the deficit without raising revenue.
And while I think the most important issue is jobs, I concur that deficit reduction is also needed.
That is why I, along with a majority of Americans, FAVOR a tax increase.
It is a small minority, that I guess you are unfortunately a part of, that want to lead us down the road to ruin.
Being part of the obstructionist practices of the Republican/Tea Party is what is contributing to our demise – not preventing it.
I bet you really like your obama phone don’t you
Actually, I don’t care for Obama and did not vote for him.
So the meaning of your comment is lost on me.
I did however, think that what you posted was quite infantile.
Perhaps you can bring more to the table next time…..?
Passive aggressive. Creepy.
lol!!
Perhaps that was Speaker Boehner’s plan all along!
The “Tea Party” isn’t even a party. There are only individual tea-partiers, each of them voicing his or her equal opinion as a United States citizen.
What are all of you so worried about?
What I’m worried about is that it was the Tea Party obstructionism and unwillingness to compromise that has caused this congressional partisan-ship, legislative grid-lock, the fiscal cliff debacle, and the debt crisis in the first place. If Boehner can’t even get consensus within his own caucuses, how will they ever agree to a bi-partisan compromise bill ?
It still appears by their political posturing and beligerent bluster that the Republicans still haven’t gotten the memo yet….. YOU LOST THE ELECTION. This shows that the ‘party of No’ is only interested in ‘carrying water’ for the interests of the wealthiest Americans.
So independent_populist,…you’re worried about non-affiliated citizens expressing their opinion? Would you deny them their expectations of representation?
Tea-partiers are former Republicans…and Democrats…all of them sick ad nauseam of political farce. Claim your victory, independent_populist, if indeed you truly want to own it.
I have no problem with any citizen or legislator expressing their opinions – this is what our great country was founded on. I do, however, have every problem with the Tea Party’s refusal to come to any consensus agreement or compromise on their ideology – which is also a cornerstone of what our democracy is built on.
The only “concensus agreement” a tea partier needs is the Constitution of the United States.
Please make this a party issue..
Federal Reserves charter ends today. Where is the news about that.. Tommorrow The US Treasures office will no longer honor Federal Reserve Note.. They will be comming for your gold. LOL!!! (-;
Nonsense.
It is good to see Congress standing fast for keeping taxes low and reducing government spending.
Boehner has the toughest job in America. Defending the super wealthy when they are the only ones who do not need defending. Try that with a straight face.
Here is what we are in for. The Republicans have no viable solution, but they will impede one that clearly has the support of a majority of Americans.
This won’t end well.
We get the government that we ask for.
We can sit back and complain but the reality is that we have elected these people. We let them do what they do or don’t do with hardly a peep.
I think that electing Obama is the best thing that could have happened. He has let the republican hubris paint themselves into a corner and they have no way out. If they give Obama what he wants the economy will recover faster and it will be apparent that it was the republicans and the tea party that’s been holding us back all along. If the republicans let us go over the cliff they will be punished in 2014.
Either way the country wins.
The one thing that the left has going for it is fact checkers. Fact checkers are getting the truth out and the truth is that every one of the economic problems we face are the products of the republican’s. First the Neocon war mongers and now the Tea party tax idiots.
The country has simple problems to solve. We spend too much on the military, $20 trillion since the end of WW2 and currently a trillion per year and we reward risk taking of the phony “financial instruments” type which punishes excellence. This is all macroeconomics 101.
It is a race to the bottom.
When is Boehner going to understand that the real speaker of the hous is Grover Norquist?