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...