The Coming Boehner Debt Sell-Out

(Tea Party) – House Speaker John Boehner is about to begin another attempt at a grand bargain deficit reduction deal with President Obama, a high wire act in which he will be buffeted by demands from the White House as well as from House Republicans.

On Thursday, Boehner told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer that repealing Obamacare was no longer his party’s strategy saying, “Obamacare is the law of the land” and the election settled the dispute over repeal.

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During that interview, the Speaker also told Sawyer that comprehensive immigration reform is a top priority in his legislative agenda during the next Congress. Republicans within his conference, like Rep. John Fleming, were livid.

“I’m concerned that Speaker Boehner is getting ahead of House Republicans when he commits to getting a ‘comprehensive approach’ to immigration taken care of ‘once and for all.’ There’s been zero discussion of this issue within the conference, and I’m urging the Speaker to talk with House Republicans before making pledges on the national news,” Fleming, R-La., blasted in a statement. “The Speaker needs to pull back on this issue and stop negotiating in public.”

And when Boehner tried last year to negotiate a grand bargain with Obama on the deficit, taxes and entitlements, key members of his party revolted at the notion.

In one of his last news conferences before the election, the Speaker said his failure to strike a grand bargain with the president was “the biggest disappointment of my speakership.”

Boehner, who held a news conference Friday shortly before Obama said, “This is an opportunity for the president to lead. This is his moment to engage the Congress and work towards a solution that can pass both chambers.”

When pressed on what was the size of deficit reduction package he envisioned, the speaker reiterated that he does not want to limit the scope of negotiations and once again called for Obama to lead.

“I don’t want to box myself in. I don’t want to box anybody else in,” Boehner said.

“I don’t want to limit the options that would be available to me or limit the options that might be available to the White House,” he said. “There are a lot of ways to get there, and I don’t really want to preclude anyone who might have a good idea about how we move forward.”

Democratic and Republican leaders appeared Sunday to draw closer to reaching a compromise on keeping the country from going off the fast-approaching “fiscal cliff” — with closing tax loopholes for America’s highest earners emerging as the potential middle ground.

“I am optimistic,” Republican Sen. Bob Corker said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think there is the basis for the deal.”

Congress is under pressure to reach a deal in its so-called lame duck session because an estimated $600 billion in federal spending cuts and tax increases take effect at the end of December. And President Obama has invited congressional leaders to the White House on Friday to discuss the issue.

The president wants to extend tax cuts for families that make less than $250,000 annually.

New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday he agrees with House Republicans who steadfastly say more cuts to federal spending are needed. However, he disagreed with the idea that tax cuts result in deficit reductions and increased government revenue.

“It doesn’t make sense,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press. “I call it Rumpelstiltskin, after the gnome who turned straw into gold. It’s a fairy tale.”

David Axelrod, a top adviser on Obama’s reelection campaign, said he was encouraged by House Speaker John Boehner signaling willingness last week to close the loopholes to help cut the deficit.

“I think there are a lot of ways to skin this cat, so long as everybody comes with a positive, constructive attitude toward the task,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

A similar plan was suggested by the commission created by Obama and led by Republican Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles.

Democrat Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee also expressed optimism but suggested Congress agree on plan that would at least give lawmakers enough time to reach a more comprehensive deal to overhaul the entitlement program and the tax code.

“You can’t settle every detail in these next few weeks,” he said on Fox.  “What you can do is agree on a framework.”

Source:  Tea Party.ogr, Fox News and ABC contributed to this report:http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/11/democrats-republicans-seem-more-ready-to-compromise-on-deficit-deal/#ixzz2BzarK6fW

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/boehners-gop-problems-complicate-deficit-negotiations/story?id=17681215#.UKCp3xht1-U