Tea Party Slams Boehner and Ryan on Debt Ceiling

Raising the debt ceiling with no policy to work towards avoiding raising it in the future is a bad idea. The Tea Party has a right to be pissed. The Tea Party backed these people with certain expectations, if Boehner and Ryan don't plan to follow through with those expectations they need to be replaced.

Going along with the washington business as usual is how we got in this horrible financial shape to begin with. The culture needs to change, even it means changing the culture through legislation. No one in washington is going to change on their own. Feeling some pain is the only way to break the old spending habits. But it won't just be the politicians feeling the pain, millions of Americans need to come to the realization that we are broke, and that no one is entitled to anything...

by Wes Barrett - FoxNews

Tea Party leaders ripped into House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, as well as other House Republicans, saying any vote to raise the debt limit without major fiscal policy changes will amount to selling out the Tea Party, adding the group will work to unseat those who vote for an increase in the next election.

"We're telling Boehner and all of the House Republicans, they came into office with Tea Party help. We now expect them to keep their promises and hold the ceiling on the national debt," said William Temple, head of this fall's Tea Party National Convention. "The Tea Party will not be in a very forgiving mood this fall, nor as the GOP primary season opens, if House freshmen and others elected by the Tea Party cave to Obama. We will find replacements for them this fall."

He added the group could go along with a small increase in the debt ceiling, but only if Republicans were able to win a major policy battle such as a repeal of health care or the passage of a balanced budget amendment.

Temple appeared at a Washington press conference dressed in colonial garb and was especially critical of the 2011 budget compromise Boehner worked out with Republicans last month. The deal cut $37.8 billion in spending and narrowly avoided a government shutdown, but was short of the $100 billion in cuts Republicans originally sought.

Temple noted the emotion the house speaker famously wears on his sleeve and suggested Boehner and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., caved during the 11th hour negotiation.

"I wish our tearful House Speaker would just show some compassion for American taxpayers and our children, but he and Mr. Ryan have already surrendered to President Obama," Temple said. "It's a cowardly act of treason against coming generations, and we may be able to give Boehner something to really cry about in 2012."

Chair of the Congressional Tea Party caucus Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., echoed the idea that the 2011 vote was a missed opportunity, saying the debt ceiling vote offers a chance for a do-over.

"The debt ceiling vote will offer an opportunity that was squandered during the vote for the 2011 Continuing Resolution," she said in a statement.

In a Monday night speech to the Economic Club of New York, Boehner is expected to challenge Obama on the debt limit, warning that a hike in the ceiling without major spending cuts and reforms will actually hurt the economy and destroy more American jobs.

"To increase the debt limit without simultaneously addressing the drivers of our debt -- in defiance of the will of our people -- would be monumentally arrogant and massively irresponsible," Boehner says in prepared remarks released to Fox News. "It would send a signal to investors and entrepreneurs everywhere that America still is not serious about dealing with our spending addiction."

Economists who side with the Tea Party point to the idea that a no-vote on a debt increase should be easy for conservative Republicans, dismissing downsides of allowing the U.S. to hit the ceiling. CATO Institute Senior Fellow Dan Mitchell says the government will still be able to pay interest on the current federal debt even if there is no increase in the ceiling.

"The Treasury Secretary is being deceitful, the Fed chairman is being very misleading on the issue as well," he said. "Default is not the issue, the issue is whether we get government spending under control. The debt and deficit are the symptoms. The underlying problem of a government that is too big."

Read the rest at the link above...

obama Keeps 'Czars' Despite Budget Deal That Eliminated Them

What an asshole. obama agrees to the budget deal and then refuses to do his portion. These "czars" never should have been allowed in the first place. These positions answer to no one but obama, are in charge of billions of tax dollars and have very little if any oversight. It is simply a way for obama to hire more of his left wing liberal, socialist buddies for huge salaries without having to worry about congressional approval. It's bullshit.

His inabilty to uphold his end of the bargain should make the entire budget deal null and void. Only a true scumbag would refuse to honor their word. All a man really has is his word, and if that is no good, well you figure it out...

From FoxNews

President obama may have never met a "czar" he didn't like and he's not about to bid farewell to any of them now, despite a budget deal he struck with Republican leaders last week that eliminated four of these positions.

The budget compromise that obama, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader harry reid reached in the final moments before the government shut down last Friday included language effectively eliminating the czar positions overseeing health care, climate change, the auto industry and urban affairs – positions that don't require Senate confirmation.

But after signing the legislation Friday that funds the government through the end of September and cuts $38 billion in spending, obama issued a signing statement saying he would ignore the part about his czars, arguing that defunding those positions violated his constitutional authority.

Republicans cried foul over obama's move.

"It's not surprising that the White House, having bypassed Congress to empower these 'Czars' is objecting to eliminating them," Mike Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said in a statement.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who introduced legislation earlier this year eliminating nine czar positions, said obama cannot choose which laws to follow and ignore.

"The president knew that the czar amendment was part of the overall budget deal he agreed to, and if he cannot be trusted to keep his word on this, then how can he be trusted as we negotiate on larger issues like federal spending and the economy," he said in a statement, arguing that appointing these czars without Senate confirmation violated the Constitution.

"The United States is not a kingdom run by a political director, and President obama needs to quickly reverse course and abide by the law eliminating the czars that were part of the budget resolution."

While presidents in both parties have appointed high-level officials to advise them on a wide range of policy areas, obama's czars have been a favorite target for Republicans, who say obama has appointed more than any of his predecessors in a power grab that undermines the Senate's advice and consent role.

Scalise's office estimates that 39 officials are in the obama administration and in his bill he described czars as the "head of any task force, council, policy office within the executive office of the president" or similar office, appointed "without the advice and consent of the Senate."

Earlier this year, climate czar Carol Browner left the White House and health care czar Nancy-Ann DeParle was promoted to White House deputy chief of staff. Other past czars in the obama administration has drawn much criticism from Republicans, including former green jobs czar Van Jones and current science czar John Holdren.

Boehner Blew The Budget Deal (and probably the future of the nation)

Go read the rest of this at TL in Exile. It's funny really, Boehner had all the tools in the world at his disposal and still got bested in this deal. Bear in mind what I said before though, Boehner was up against people who are very good at making shady deals seem legit. These are the very best (worst) of the crooked chicago political machine. What Boehner needs to understand is that you can't trust a fucking democrat, ever. They will smile at you while they stab you in the back.

I'm not giving Boehner a pass on this. He screwed the pooch, big time. He gave away everything and got nothing in return. He should have been able to see what the democrats were doing or have someone in his corner that could. He has lost my faith and I'm sure the faith of millions of other too.

He should have shouted from the highest mountain that obama was using our Troops as a bargaining tool. He should have held his ground, government shutdown or not. He should have forced the democrats to make real, substantial cuts. Even if the deal he was able to cut didn't pass the senate, the ball would have been in their court. The spotlight, and the blame, would have been on those that deserve it...

By T.L. Davis - TL in Exile

The other day I expressed my dissatisfaction with the budget deal. I quoted the oft-quoted numbers of $50 billion in new spending while negotiating for a $38.5 billion dollar spending reduction and intimated that this was clearly stupid. But, there were levels of being sold out that I had not addressed and since taking the victory lap along with Barack Obama was not enough for Boehner and people are considering him a winner in the negotiations with Obama, I think I ought to be a bit more clear as to my objections to the budget deal recently released.

First of all, you know when you have been bested when the opposition holds you up as a worthy adversary. I don't know for a fact that the collective ass-covering was a part of the negotiated deal to let Obama keep some of his most prized pieces of the budget, or not. It stinks, that's all I know. There was no defunding of Planned Parenthood, there was no defunding of Obamacare, there was no real 38.5 billion dollars in spending cuts, it was done with some accounting gimmicks. By the way, who has already forgotten that accounting gimmicks like keeping Social Security off budget and Medicare's "Doctor Fix" are how we got here in the first place? It is this kind of smarmy, weasel-y budget negotiations that have led to $14 trillion in debt with no end in sight. Even Paul Ryan's budget doesn't even balance the budget until 2021, so when the hell are we going to deal with the DEBT?

For those who don't know, deficits are what accrue every year, debt is the pile that all of these yearly deficits are piled onto. Deficits are the amount of money you are spending over what you are taking in, Debts are the things that catch all of those yearly excesses and pile them up. So, if we don't even get to a balanced budget until 2021, these trillion dollar deficits will continue during all that time and dump onto the massively growing DEBT. It is only in theory that we eventually, sometime in the mid century, actually begin to work on the DEBT, which by then will be somewhere near $30 trillion dollars or 200% of our GDP, assuming we ever get out of the ditch Barack Obama has driven us back into over his two years.

Okay, those are the raw numbers that must be placed alongside the puny $38.5 billion dollars supposedly saved in the budget deal, with the help of some left-over stimulus money and returned TARP funds, NOT mostly by cutting spending as they would have you believe.

Two other opinions about the budget deal...

I agree with elements of what each one of them says. It was a win. of sorts, for Republicans. But on the downside, the democrats are much better at this type of negotiations than Republicans. They are willing to give a little to gain a lot. I think this is what the democrats did in this case.

It was the largest cut in budget history, but obama using our Military as a bargaining tool is inexcusible. Like Robert mentions, no president in history has ever gone there. Never.

And like T.L. says, Boehner isn't qualified to lead these types of negotiations. He is too honest. To attempt to strike a favorable bargain with democrats, you have to be as dirty and as thuggish as they are. You have to be willing to stake your own grandmother to an ant hill. democrats are willing to do that, and worse.

The first is from My friend Robert at American and Proud

Budget Deal Done! How do you feel?

After a couple days of huffing and puffing. After reading the entire budget that was agreed to. And after checking many “Alternative reality” sites (aka Liberals) I came to a conclusion. It may not set well with some folks, it may make sense to others but it is my opinion.

We on the right didn’t do too bad in the agreement. We didn’t win in a blowout, but we didn’t lose at all. In other words it was like baseball game played over 12 innings we lost our starting pitcher and our power hitter to injuries but we won the game.

The POTUS made the Speaker blink. Yep. The POTUS used our military as tools to save Planned Parenthood. Yep. And it worked. In a day gone by NO POTUS would have ever gone there. Our current POTUS did. Obama is not a Democrat, he’s a progressive and that’s the big difference in this entire thing. A democrat can be reasoned with, a progressive on the other hand is ANTI-AMERICAN from the start so sacrificing the military wouldn’t phase him.

Did the Republicans win? Absolutely they won. They proved some points, they made Obama tip his hand about how far he’s willing to go to protect a failed agenda and they got MORE cuts than ever before. And they are putting fourth a bill that will protect the military from any such Obamanism in the future. They also left the door open for the next battle which starts in about two weeks.

While I would have rather them take it all the way, I do understand the game. Its one of quarters not entirety all at once. We got more work to do, we have a LOT more work to do, but for an opening salvo in a clash, We’ll take the 38.5 billion and hope they can get the other 60+Billion before the next fiscal year.

And the next one is from my friend T.L. Davis at TL in Exile.

The Enemy Is Us

One can barely grasp the enormous stupidity of the budget deal. It is a signal that there is no chance of a bold, desperately-needed reconciliation with sanity. There is no chance that even discretionary spending can be limited, much less the drastic measures required to save the nation from bankruptcy and world-wide ridicule. If this is the fruit of the Tea Party, it is a wicked weed indeed.

John Boehner is not qualified to polish the spittoons in the basement of the Capitol Building, much less participate in a negotiation between Harry Reid, Barack Obama and the Republican congress. The praise being heaped upon him by the press signals that he is the one they want to negotiate the 2012 budget. He negotiated positive press and a fig leaf from the president in return for capitulation. Gee, I wonder why they would give that to him? It is time to scrap Boehner and elect Paul Ryan as the majority leader, or at a minimum, to designate Ryan as the principle budget negotiator for the majority.

The bigger issue is the 2012 budget. $6.2 trillion in spending reductions are you effing crazy? Boehner couldn't negotiate for an umbrella in a hurricane. He just simply does not have the backbone for it. I don't dislike his personal story, it is compelling, but this is the salvation of the country, this is for all the marbles. He is out of his depth and perhaps his advisers are of theirs as well. Perhaps the Republican Party is out of its depth. I have never seen anything resembling a spine when it came to budget negotiations from the Republicans.

I've been through this before, but I will go through it again. You cannot negotiate a budget deal where you eliminate tens of billions of dollars while you are spending hundreds of billions of dollars over the period of the negotiation. I wrote a post a while ago about the $6.1 billion dollar debate and how if that debate went on for a week, the interest on the debt alone would wipe out the savings. In this deal, the government spent over $50 billion while they negotiated to cut $38 billion.

Listen, this is the same old fight in a different location. The moochers and parasites are the supporters of the Democrats, they aren't going to let a budget cut interfere with their looting and since the Democratic Party is nothing other than a gigantic money-laundering operation, every dime the moochers and parasites have gotten from the government they are willing to spend to keep them in office and to keep them from reforming the system. The Democrats themselves have no reason to engage in legitimate negotiations. Parasites don't give a damn about the condition of the body from which they feed. It is beyond their intellectual capacity to consider the future when the feast is at an end.

We have now seen the script laid out for the upcoming budget battle of 2012 and the debt limit increase to come. We have come, we have seen and the enemy is us.

Budget Deal Targets Pieces of Health Care Law

Ok, maybe I was a little hard on Boehner yesterday. Anything that helps defund or repeal obamacare is a good thing. I still think Boehner compromised when he didn't have to, but the deal he got was better than the past couple of continuing resolutions...

The Wall Street Journal

The budget deal reached Friday would affect two initiatives contained in last year's health-care law that were bitterly opposed by businesses, killing one outright and slashing funding for the other.

The agreement would eliminate a provision of the health-care law enabling low-income workers to opt out of employer-offered health insurance and shop for more affordable coverage on insurance exchanges to be created in 2014, according to congressional aides and business groups.

Under the provision, employers would have had to help pay for the insurance purchased on the exchange. Ending the program would save the government $4 billion over 10 years, but it wouldn't result in any immediate spending cuts because it isn't set to begin for three years.

Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden sponsored the provision, calling it "Free Choice." A spokesman for Mr. Wyden, Jennifer Hoelzer, said Saturday that "both parties claim to support choice and competition in health care, but their closed-door decision to kill off Free Choice makes it pretty clear that their real goal is to keep health care in the hands of special interests."

Spokespeople for the Business Roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers, organizations that opposed the measure, couldn't be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which also opposed the measure, declined to comment.

The budget bill will also cut $2.2 billion in funding from a program that would encourage the development of health-care cooperatives-not-for-profit entities that would compete with private, for-profit health-insurance companies.

Read the rest at the link above...

No government shutdown...

Well, I told you Boehner would give in. I think the $38.5 BILLION in cuts is less than the interest that accrued while they were arguing about it.

It wouldn't have hurt my feelings at all if the government had shut down, except congress and obama would have still been paid. That wouldn't have hurt my feelings, but it owuld have pissed me off.

I hope Boehner was good at what he did before he got into politics. He may be needing that job again sooner than he thinks. We elected these people, last November, to put a stop to the out of control spending and be tough about it. So far, not much has changed...

Boehner: Congress shouldn't be paid in event of shutdown

Boehner is 100% correct. If the government shuts down congress should not get paid. And obama sure in the hell shouldn't get paid, he shouldn't even be getting paid now.

During a shutdown, only the people who protect us should be paid. The Military, Police and Fire are about it. There may be some other essential folks that need to stay on the payroll.

Somebody correct me if I am wrong, but don't those non-essential employees who will be laid off get back pay when everything starts back up? I'm almost positive I heard that somewhere. If that is the case, it is dead wrong. If I get laid off because my company is way over budget, when things get back to normal, do you think they will give me pay for the time I was sitting around the house in my underwear? I kind of doubt it...

By Jordan Fabian - The Hill

Lawmakers should not be paid if the government shuts down, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday.

Boehner expressed support for legislation that would prevent members from drawing a paycheck should Congress and the White House fail to reach a deal, by day's end Friday, to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year.

"Members of Congress are elected by their constituents. If there is a government shutdown, not only will Congress not be paid, but federal employees will not be paid," he said during an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

The Speaker's endorsement of the idea comes after a number of lawmakers urged leaders to adopt the principle this week.

Over 20 senators this week made public statements in favor of the idea, and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) even said he would donate his salary to charity or give it back to the Treasury if the government shuts down.

Both chambers have passed separate pieces of legislation cutting off lawmaker pay in case of a shutdown, but a single bill has not advanced through both chambers and been signed by President Obama.

"We’ll have to take a look at that," Boehner said.

"If Speaker Boehner were really serious about preventing Members of Congress from being paid during a government shutdown, he would immediately pass our ‘no budget, no pay’ bill," responded Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who sponsored the Senate's congressional pay bill.

During his wide-ranging interview with ABC, Boehner also expressed confidence both sides could eventually reach a deal on a 2011 budget.

Obama-Boehner Fight Gets Ugly

Everything is rosy when obama and reid get their way, when they are put in a position of possibly compromising they act like jr. high school girls.

Do you think Boehner will cave? I hope like hell he stands his (our) ground. There has to be real cuts made to spending in washington. We are headed for financial ruin at breakneck speed.

It is going to be painful to fix our budget woes, but not nearly as painful as the alternative. It can't be put off any longer...

By Chris Stirewalt - FoxNews

Obama Swats Boehner, Boehner Swats Back

“The president is certainly entitled to disagree with our budget, but what exactly is his alternative? If he wants to have an ‘adult conversation’ about solving our fiscal challenges, he needs to lead instead of sitting on the sidelines.”

-- Statement from Speaker John Boehner released Wednesday morning blasting President Obama for neglecting long-term fiscal issues

President Obama is out on the campaign trail today talking to Pennsylvanians about wind power and attending an awards ceremony hosted by Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.

But real the topic for the president’s day isn’t green energy or racial injustice. It’s dealing with House Speaker John Boehner and the prospect of a looming government shutdown.

After a White House meeting with Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Tuesday, Obama went to the press room to rip Boehner for playing “games” with the process and “quibbling around the edges” of the nation’s fiscal problems.

Boehner then responded with a press conference of his own saying that Republicans would not be “put into a box” by the president and said Democrats are using “smoke and mirrors” to create the false appearance of spending cuts.

Today is the crucial day if lawmakers mean to avoid a government shutdown. House rules require three days for legislation to be considered before a vote and Senate Democrats have been unable to produce their own plan for funding the government when the current emergency measure expires on Friday.

That means if a shutdown is to be averted, Reid and his caucus would have to get busy today and produce a bill that can draw at least the seven Republican votes in the Senate needed to advance and head to the House.

In the six weeks since House Republicans passed their spending plan for the rest of the fiscal year – now just 25 weeks – the Senate has been stuck and the government has been operating on emergency measures to stave off shutdowns while negotiations continued.

Boehner shocked Democrats on Tuesday when he won the support of Tea Party members of his caucus for yet another emergency one-week extension. Boehner won their backing by attaching a $12 billion cuts package and promising full-year funding for the Pentagon in the measure.

Boehner, Reid Fail to Agree on Budget Solution as Gov't Shutdown Nears

It's funny seeing obama try to act like a badass. Especially when you consider that this entire mess has come about because the democrats, who controlled the house, the senate and the presidency, didn't pass a budget last year. So now, obama wants to act like a bully and try to make Boehner buckle under the pressure, force him to make a compromise.

If Boehner sticks to his guns, which I doubt, he can force obama and reid to make some concessions.

I don't think that a government shutdown is such a bad idea. It will separate the essential employees from the non-essential. It would go a long way to fixing our budget if those non-essential employees, who are not needed during a shutdown, were given the opportunity to find their next career. Maybe if several of them had to compete for jobs in the real world, with the current obama economy, maybe there would be more a more realistic attitude about spending.

It's almost as if the people in our government don't realize that real people actually have to work for the money they continue to spend. The money just magically shows up on the doorstep. Sorry, it doesn't work that way...

From FoxNews

Even with President obama holding their feet to the fire, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader harry reid were unable to reach a budget deal during a meeting on Capitol Hill as a government shutdown loomed this weekend.

The meeting lasted less than an hour but the two "agreed to continue working on a budget solution," spokesmen for the two said in separate statements.

Earlier Tuesday, a visibly frustrated obama said that if the meeting between the two leaders does not lead to a deal, he would summon the pair back to the White House Wednesday.

"Myself, joe biden, my team -- we are prepared to meet for as long as possible to this resolved," obama said during a surprise appearance at the White House briefing room.

obama also said that democrats have agreed with Republicans on how much to cut from the budget and that he won't accept another temporary spending bill that House Republicans are rallying behind to keep the lights on for another week.

"We've already done that twice," obama said. "That is not a way to run a government. "I can't have our agencies making plans based on two-week budgets."

obama said both sides are closer than ever to a deal and that politics shouldn't stand in the way of preventing a shutdown that would harm the economic recovery.

"There is no reason why we should not get an agreement," obama said. "At a time when the economy is just beginning to grow, the last thing we need is a disruption that's caused by a government shutdown."

In a statement following the private White House meeting earlier Tuesday, Boehner had said there was no deal. And he warned that House Republicans "will not be put in a box" of accepting options they refuse to endorse.

Boehner has proposed an agreement that would keep the government running for one more week and slash another $12 billion in spending. The GOP-led House has already passed a pair of stopgap bills, so far cutting $10 billion from an estimated $1.2 trillion budget to fund the day-to-day operations of government through Sept. 30.

obama said he would only accept another short-term funding extension, of two or three days, in order to get a longer-term deal through Congress. But he ruled out a longer extension to allow negotiations to continue.

"What we are not going to do is once again put off something that should have been done months ago," the president said.

Read the rest at the link above...

Obama Summons Lawmakers to White House Budget Talks

So, will Boehner cave today or later in the week? Because it isn't a question of if, just when. The worst about about it is that he is in the better position. The democrats need him to compromise, because they sure aren't planning on making any concessions. It's the same old story, compromise means the Republicans doing exactly what the democrats want...

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Monday summoned key lawmakers from both parties to the White House for budget talks in hopes of avoiding a government shutdown this weekend.

The White House said the president has invited House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and top negotiators on the appropriations committees to a session Tuesday.

Obama spokesman Jay Carney said time was running short and the president would urge the lawmakers to reach an agreement.

Carney said the White House was optimistic that a shutdown could be averted, but a top Republican did not share that optimism.

Boehner, R-Ohio, said there were still disagreements about how much to cut spending through Sept. 30, the end of the budget year. He accused the White House of bringing too many phony budget cuts to the table in hopes of restoring reductions made by Republicans in February.

"Despite attempts by Democrats to lock in a number among themselves, I've made clear that their $33 billion is not enough and many of the cuts that the White House and Senate Democrats are talking about are full of smoke and mirrors," Boehner said in a statement. "That's unacceptable."

Democratic officials knowledgeable about the proposals said the administration's ideas including taking unused money from federal highway programs and leftover funds from a program providing health care to middle-class families. Both ideas count in congressional budget terms as savings that could be used to pay for spending elsewhere in the day-to-day budgets of domestic agencies, but their practical effect is nil.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss proposals that haven't been made public.

Read therest at the link above...

Obama to Congressional Leaders: Hurry Up and Strike a Budget Deal

What do you bet Boehner folds again? This guy has way less balls than I thought. He is in a very good position right now. He doesn't have to compromise. He should be able to force the democrats to make some REAL spending cuts. He won't though.

I about half hope there is a shutdown. As long as the government is shutdown there is a lot less stupid spending going on. And if the government does shut down, it will be the fault of both parties. The democrats will try to spin it as unwillingness on the part of Republicans to make a compromise, but really it will be the unwillingness of the democrats to make real spending cuts in an out of control government...

From FoxNews

President obama told the leaders of the House and Senate on Saturday to hurry up and strike a deal on the budget to avoid a government shutdown next weekend, the White House said.

obama made separate calls to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, urging them to "reach a final solution and avoid a government shutdown that would be harmful to our economic recovery," the White House said in a readout of the call.

Negotiators are discussing spending cuts in the $33 billion range but haven't agreed on where to make them. Talks were continuing through the weekend. Funding for the government expires at midnight Friday.

Boehner is under pressure from Tea Party-backed conservatives to not compromise after the GOP-led House passed a budget bill in February that cuts $61 billion from current spending levels.

During the phone call, Boehner "reminded the president that there is no 'deal' or agreement on a final number, and he will continue to push for the largest possible spending cuts," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.

Crisis getting deeper in Syria...

As the crisis in Syria deepens, we once again see obama sitting on the fence. He will wait until someone chooses a side for him or until the outcome is determined and then claim that was his team the whole time.

While he let the u.n. decide a course of action for our Country in Libya, once that decision was made he jumped on board with both feet, pretending to have a plan and a new policy. So will that policy apply to Syria? Can we expect to see cruise missles on the Syrian horizon? Or will our course of action be dictated by the u.n.?

Has any other president in the history of our Country let the u.n. decide when we do or do not act? It is a sign of weakness on the part of obama. He has shown many of those signs. His inability to deal with foreign policy issues is scary. What if there is an actual threat to our Country? Will we have to wait four or five weeks for a decision from the u.n. on how we should deal with that threat? By then it may be too late? Is that a chance we should be willing to take?

When bashar assad starts mudering his own people wholesale for protesting mistreatment, will obama call for his removal but then refuse to target him? Will he say that assad has to go but then claim we are not advocating for regime change? This is exactly how obama has treated qaddafi in Libya, why would we expect anything different if it comes to blows in Syria?

It's surprising how easily obama's complete disregard for the Constitution was deflected after the action in Libya. Dennis Kucinich was about the only person I heard calling for impeachment. For once I actually agreed with the guy. It should have been John Boehner or harry reid, but nothing from reid and only an idle threat from Boehner. I sometimes wonder if obama has some sort of dirt on every single member of congress. Why are none of them willing to stand up to obama? Even when he shows total disregard for our Constitution and our laws. Will he be so bold if the u.n. orders us into Syria?

2012 can not come soon enough. We need to rid our Country of this obama cancer at our earliest opportunity. If we don't, there may not be much of a Country left...

Has John Boehner forgotten why he is in washington?

I have to tell you, with each passing day, my faith in John Boehner fades. He is much too willing to compromise in situations where he has no need to. And what that boils down to, is Boehner doing exactly what the democrats want him to do. I'll hand to to the democrats, they are very devious. They use the tools they have at their disposal better than the Republicans do.

For instance, everyone knows the democrats have the media in their pocket. If the Republicans appear unwilling to budge on an issue, the media is alerted and the Republicans are front page news as being obstructionists or the party of "no".

Right now we need some "no". No to obamacare, no to more spending, no to anything that isn't pointing our Country back to the right path. We have been on the road the democrats have laid out for us and we have seen that it ends in the destruction of our values and our Country.

Boehner needs to man up. He needs to refuse to budge on the debt ceiling and the continuing resolutions until the senate agrees to repeal obamacare or to reduce spending by a significant amount. These two billon dollar cuts are worthless. We accrue more interest in the time they spend arguing than the actual reduction.

Boehner has options. He has tools. He needs to remember why we put him in his current position. We put him there to be our voice. The person to stand up for the American citizens who are against obamacare and against the out of control spending. But in my opinion, the most important job John Boehner has is to end the corrupt, business as usual way washington operates. Chicago politics are an embarrasment to our Country, it is an even bigger embarrassment when it is brought to the National level...

Tea Party Group Calls Out John Boehner

I can't be completely critical of Boehner on this, I mean they did cut $61 BILLION dollars. Sure, it's not $100 BILLION and they have been able to hit that number without much difficulty, but it's a start.

I do have some other issues with Boehner though. He needs to quit folding every time the democrats balk at something. I would rather nothing gets done than more of the obama agenda...

by Peter Doocy - FoxNews

"Charlie Sheen is now making more sense than John Boehner." At least that's what Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips says, and he doesn't mean it as a compliment.

The Tea Party Nation called out Speaker Boehner because the federal budget the House passed cut $61 billion, instead of the $100 billion they wanted. Their anger was amplified when Boehner hailed that budget's passage through the House as a success.

"If this is the best John Boehner can do and John Boehner is the only hope we have right now, then we are sunk," Phillips writes. "By the time we can replace Obama as president, in 2013, we will be trillions of dollars of more into debt and may hit the point of economic collapse."

This group is so discouraged with the Speaker of the House, they think someone else would be better suited for his job. So, defeating Boehner in the 2012 Ohio primary is now a priority for the Tea Party Nation. "The Tea Party movement should find a candidate to run against John Boehner in 2012 and should set as a goal, to defeat in a primary, the sitting Speaker of the House of Representatives," Phillips writes in a piece called "The honeymoon is over: It is time to primary John Boehner," posted on the Tea Party Nation Forum.

After calling for a Republican challenger, and listing his group's grievances with the Speaker, Phillips concludes his letter with a simple but direct insult for Boehner. "You look like a fool."

Speaker Boehner's office has not yet commented publicly about this criticism.