Speaking to reporters today, Boehner insisted that the Senate compromise would not pass the House and that he had never supported it. “I raised concerns about the two-month process from the moment that I heard about it,” Boehner said.
How does that square with the timeline of events? Last Thursday, Boehner said: “If the Senate acts, I’m committed to bringing the House back — we can do it within 24 hours — to deal with whatever the Senate does.”
Asked to square those two statements, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told me that Boehner had merely pledged to vote on the Senate’s compromise, not to support it. “We are acting on what the Senate produced — we’re voting on it tonight,” Steel told me. “He said ‘act,’ not ‘support.’”
But CNN quoted a source over the weekend saying that Boehner had called the Senate compromise a “good deal” on a conference call. Meanwhile, Roll Call reports that Boehner was in touch with Mitch McConnell while the Senate deal was negotiated, suggesting the possibility that he may have been supportive before his caucus rebelled.
