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Boehner: ‘This isn’t Some Damn Game’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) urged Republicans to stick together Friday at a closed-door conference meeting, leaving for another day talk of a possible “grand bargain” to end standoffs over the government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling.

“This isn’t some damn game,” Boehner told reporters after the conference, angrily responding to reports that the White House thought it was winning the showdown.

Lawmakers emerging from the meeting said Boehner told his colleagues they are locked in an “epic battle” with President Obama and Democrats on the shutdown, and vowed they would not “roll over.”

They said Boehner sought to hype up his conference a day after reports emerged that the Speaker has told some members he would not allow the country to default and is willing to bring legislation to the floor that would depend on Democratic votes for passage.

Speaking to reporters, Boehner continued the recent GOP strategy of casting Republicans as the party interested in talking, and blaming Democrats for stonewalling them.

Read more from this story HERE.

Harry Reid’s Office Leaks Boehner Office Emails – And it Could Ruin Any Faith You Have in Washington

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Photo Credit: AFP/Getty

Photo Credit: AFP/Getty

A series of leaked emails authored by House Speaker John Boehner’s chief of staff Mike Sommers show that the Speaker may have coordinated with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to exempt Congress from Obamacare.

The emails were leaked Tuesday by Reid chief of staff David Krone, who actually has a history of this sort of thing.

The leaks, which are a major taboo in Washington, show Boehner (R-Ohio) worked behind the scenes earlier this year to address confusion over a provision in the Affordable Care Act that would force members of Congress and their aides into the exchanges. In fact, if one were to go by the leaks, which were first published by Politico, it appears that the offices of Boehner and Reid regularly coordinated to exempt Congress from the health care law.

But given that Boehner is now apparently against congressional Obamacare exemptions, the emails make him look inconsistent and hypocritical – which may have been the point of their leaking.

From Politico:

[B]ehind-the-scenes, Boehner and his aides worked for months with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and others, to save these very same, long-standing [congressional Obamacare] subsidies, according to documents and e-mails provided to POLITICO. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was also aware of these discussions, the documents show.

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No Go: Boehner says Obama Still Won’t Negotiate on Government Funding

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Photo Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta

Photo Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta

Congressional leaders emerged Wednesday night from a meeting with President Obama at the White House reporting little progress as all sides struggle for a solution to the government shutdown, which began Tuesday and showed no signs of breaking.

At the Capitol, the House continued to try to chip away at the problem by passing bills to fund high-profile programs such as national parks and the National Institutes of Health. But Mr. Obama has vowed to veto those bills, saying he won’t fund the government piece by piece.

Instead, Democrats held firm on their insistence that Republicans pass the Senate’s version of a spending bill that would fund the entire government at last year’s levels, and would preserve Mr. Obama’s health care law.

“They will not negotiate,” House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, told reporters after the meeting.

Although both sides said they didn’t want a shutdown, congressional aides were predicting that the fight could last for weeks. Mr. Obama canceled part of a trip to Asia, scheduled to begin this weekend, to keep working on the issue.

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Latest House CR Funds and Permits Obamacare’s Attack on Free Exercise of Catholicism

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The last version of the continuing resolution that House Speaker John Boehner (R.-Ohio) pushed through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Monday—and that the Democrat-controlled Senate summarily rejected—surrendered a position that House Republicans had taken in the previous CR that protected Americans from being forced by an Obamacare regulation to act against their moral or religious convictions.

The Obamacare regulation in question effectively prohibits American Catholics from freely practicing their faith in the way they live their daily lives.

Indeed, the Catholic bishops of the United States have unanimously declared this regulation an “unjust and illegal mandate” and “a violation of personal civil rights.”

Many of the nation’s Catholic bishops have also publicly declared in writing that they “will not obey it.”

The CR the House approved after midnight on Sunday included an amendment sponsored by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R.-Tenn.). That amendment said the Obamacare “preventive services” regulation–which requires almost all health-care plans to cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs–could not be imposed between now and Jan. 1, 2015 on employers, health insurers or individuals who opposed “such requirement for coverage based on religious or moral objections.”

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Boehner Slams Senate Dems’ ‘Arrogance’

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boehner_budgetSenate Democrats must meet Sunday to vote on legislation funding the government, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, calling their failure to do so “an act of breathtaking arrogance.”

House Republicans voted early Sunday on a spending bill that delays ObamaCare by a year. Senate Democrats say they’ll vote in down when they convene Monday, all but ensuring a government shutdown come Tuesday.

“The House worked late into the night Saturday to prevent a government shutdown, and the Senate now must move quickly, today, to do the same,” Boehner said in a statement.

“If the Senate stalls until Monday afternoon instead of working today, it would be an act of breathtaking arrogance by the Senate Democratic leadership.”

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How John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are Funding Obamacare

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Photo Credit: RedState

Photo Credit: RedState

Don’t be fooled by this political theater going on in Washington, DC. The fix is in and both sides are trying to fund ObamaCare while saving face.

The whole of House Republican Leadership thinks you are stupid. They have passed a bill that they know will be changed by Harry Reid before it goes back to the House in a few days. The smoking gun will happen when Boehner allows a Senate passed government funding measure to come up in the House minus the provision defunding ObamaCare. You wait and see.

Also, know that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is in on this too. He is going to stand with Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) to save his Senate seat, but he knows that he has the power to stop this scheme.

Here is how both Republican and Democrats in leadership are trying to fool you. The House passed a Continuing Resolution, a measure to fund the government for two and one half months, with two things attached. A measure to defund ObamaCare and another to reorder the debt payment priorities of the United States government to allow the federal government to operate if the debt limit forbids anymore federal borrowing. These amendments were grouped in a way making it very easy for the Senate to delete this provision. And that was by design.

After the House passed the resolution, they had a big fake rally to make believe they were happy that they were funding the government while defunding ObamaCare. Yet Republicans in the House think we are stupid. Representatives like Peter King (R-NY) and Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) either went on TV or yelled at Tea Party minded constituents to tell them why the House could not pass a budget bill that defunds ObamaCare, yet they did it. These moderates only supported the House effort because they knew it was without teeth and an effort to make believe they are fighting ObamaCare.

Read more from this story HERE.

House Defunding of Obamacare May Lead to Delay in Individual Mandate (+video)

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john_boehner_034In a bold move, Republican Speaker John Boehner and his leadership have done what grassroots organizations have been encouraging them to do all summer: defund ObamaCare. Given the Senate’s Democratic leadership and their refusal to consider this option, the GOP’s move may lead to a compromise to delay the individual mandate at the very least.

As The Washington Times reported, the House vote on the continuing resolution (CR) was 230-189 to eliminate the funding for ObamaCare, stopping its implementation. The Affordable Healthcare Act, which isn’t so affordable, has not been implemented in accordance with its own provisions with the Obama administration missing over half of the legally imposed deadlines.

In addition, the Obama administration has delayed the employer mandate for one year, but not the individual mandate to purchase insurance. With the exchanges set to open October 1, this is the final opportunity to stop ObamaCare.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, says that the GOP version of the CR is not going to go anywhere in the Senate. President Obama’s press secretary says that Obama will not negotiate with the Republicans on this issue, either. As a result of Obama’s unwillingness to work with the Republicans, Speaker Boehner asks, why will President Obama negotiate with Putin but not the Republican party in his own country?

Read more from this story HERE.

Tea Party Republicans Flex Muscle, Put Boehner in Tight Spot as Shutdown Looms

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

House Speaker John Boehner once again finds himself caught in the middle of a Capitol brawl between Tea Party Republicans and his Democratic counterparts, as he tries to navigate the choppy political waters and prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month.

Tea Party-aligned members of Boehner’s caucus are flexing their muscle and pressuring him to allow a vote on an anti-ObamaCare measure as part of ongoing budget talks. They want the vote tied directly to the budget measure, and rejected a compromise plan earlier this week — leaving unclear how Congress might pass a short-term spending bill before funding runs out on Sept. 30.

Boehner, after meeting with bipartisan congressional leaders on Thursday morning, offered no hint of what the next step might be. In the face of heated intra-party squabbling — and even nastier accusations flying between Republican and Democrats — he projected cool.

“There’s all this speculation about these deadlines that are coming up. I’m well aware of the deadlines. So are my colleagues,” he said. “And so we’re working with our colleagues to work our way through these issues. I think there’s a way to get there. … There are a million options that are being discussed by a lot of people.”

But Boehner realizes that the party’s public image going into the 2014 elections could be at stake, with Democrats eager to pin the blame on them if Congress can’t reach a budget deal and there’s a partial shutdown. Lawmakers came within minutes of a shutdown during a budget fight in 2011, and have continued to pass a series of short-term measures — leaving the prospect of a shutdown perpetually over the horizon.

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Rand Paul: Immigration Reform Would Be the Final Thing Boehner Did as Speaker (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

On Laura Ingraham’s Friday radio show, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said that if Speaker of the House John Boehner passed an immigration reform bill similar to the Gang of Eight’s, it would be “final things he did as speaker.”

Paul offered an update on Congress’ immigration reform efforts: Earlier this summer, the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate passed its version of immigration reform legislation. Despite that, Paul still lobbied for his amendment that would put Congress in charge of making sure the border is secure.

“I’m not hearing much,” Paul said. “It’s gone pretty quiet on it. And I still think they’re still working on something in the House and the conservative members that have come up to me — what I keep saying and what I come back to is my amendment is trust but verify and in my amendment, I say you have to have congressional votes each year for about five years and each time we have to vote to say the border is more secure.”

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Rep to Boehner – Call House Back Now (+video)

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Photo Credit: Congressional photo

Photo Credit: Congressional photo

Rep. Scott Rigell (R.-Va.)–who served six years in the Marine Corps Reserves, sits on the House Armed Services Committee, and represents the congressional district with the largest concentration of military personnel of any in the nation–said today he is calling on House Speaker John Boehner to call the House back into session to prevent President Barack Obama from usurping Congress’s constitutional authority to authorize—or not authorize—the use of military force in Syria.

“He should be calling the House back right now,” Rigell said of Boehner. “I will be clear on this.”

“I do have a call scheduled with one of our senior leaders this afternoon and I will be making that case,” said Rigell. “I think we’re at this point, and I regret that we’re at this point. But that is where we are.”

Rigell sent a letter to President Obama today—co-signed by a bipartisan group of “over 100” House members–reminding the president that it is “clearly delineated” in the Constitution that the president must seek congressional authorization before using military force unless the use of force is needed to protect the United States from an attack.

“While the Founders wisely gave the Office of the President the authority to act in emergencies, they foresaw the need to ensure public debate—and the active engagement of Congress—prior to committing U.S. military assets,” Rigell wrote. “Engaging our military in Syria when no direct threat to the United States exists and without prior congressional authorization would violate the separation of powers that is clearly delineated in the Constitution.”

Read more from this story HERE.