The Speaker of the House said a naughty word:
A salty Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday told members of the Senate to “get off their ass”
and pass a bill to replace the $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts that will kick in on March 1.
“We have moved a bill in the House twice. We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something,” Boehner told reporters in a press conference, repeating a message he had just delivered in a closed-door meeting of the House Republican conference.
The House in 2012 approved measures twice to replace the cuts known as sequestration, but because a new Congress began in January, those bills are now inoperative. Still, Boehner has been adamant that the Senate move first in 2013 if Democrats want to stave off the cuts to military and domestic programs.“It’s time for the Senate to act,” Boehner said. “It’s not about the House. We’ve acted.”
How do you think this'll be played in Peoria? Is Boehner playing into Obama's hands? What would you do if you were Boehner?
Inquiring minds want to know.
In the meantime, the President is doing what the President is skilled at doing. Lying to the American people while the press covers for him:
President Obama will visit a Virginia shipyard Tuesday to warn of the negative consequences from automatic spending cuts set to take effect later this week, in a bid to pressure congressional Republicans to accept a deal to replace the sequester that includes a mix of revenues and reductions.
The visit to Newport News Shipbuilding, the largest manufacturing employer in Virginia, is the latest in a series of public calls by the Obama administration to rally support behind what it has framed as a "balanced" approach to averting the $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts.
Balanced?
Seriously?
The last time the President negotiated a “balanced” package was January’s fiscal cliff deal. He said that only “the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans” would pay higher taxes. Yet, mid-January, with the arrival of the first paychecks of the year, we learned what “wealthy” really means: everyone. The payroll tax increase hit every worker, and the average American earning $41,000 received $32 less in his biweekly paycheck, which will add up to almost $1,000 a year.
The fiscal cliff deal showed that President Obama’s idea of “balance” is tax increases ($618 billion plus the increase in the payroll tax) and NO spending cuts. In fact, the fiscal cliff deal had a net increase in spending.
Now the President is talking “balance” again. He wants tax increases (only on “the rich,” of course) to replace spending cuts in sequestration.
Watch out, America! We have seen that “deal” before.
Yes, we have. And I'm thinking we're about to see it again.
But hey, at least now, Boehner's cussing about it.
