Speaker Boehner bargains, then braces for fallout
So let me get this straight. Boehner brings enough votes together to actually accomplish something and because he has the audacity to work with everyone involved he faces a revolt in his own party?
America hates gridlock and wants our politicians to work together. It's too bad that many GOP congressmen don't want the same thing.
With his willingness to bargain, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives won passage on Friday of the economically important payroll tax-cut extension. But he lost a hefty block of Republicans who may end up determining his political fate.
But some Republicans see a longer-term problem for the 62-year-old Boehner. Given all the uprisings he has had to quell within his ranks on major bills over the past year, they question his staying power.
"I think he's got to be watching his flank," a senior House Republican said. "Whenever you pass something using Democratic votes, as a speaker, that usually spells some problems."
Pressure on Boehner likely will intensify, the lawmaker said, if the party loses many seats in the November elections.
"John Boehner could end up being blamed for helping Obama get re-elected," said Greg Valliere of the Potomac Research Group, a private firm that tracks Washington for investors.
"But he did what he thought was right," Valliere said. "This normally gridlocked Congress finally got something done today and I think John Boehner deserves a majority of the credit."
So let me get this straight. Boehner brings enough votes together to actually accomplish something and because he has the audacity to work with everyone involved he faces a revolt in his own party?
America hates gridlock and wants our politicians to work together. It's too bad that many GOP congressmen don't want the same thing.