Deirdre Shesgreen reports:
In his remarks on the sequester Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner didn’t resort to any foul language when talking about his political opponents in the U.S. Senate.
The West Chester Republican mostly avoided responding directly to reporters’ questions about the imminent across-the-board spending cuts. Asked, for example, if he would engage in one-on-one negotiations with President Obama to come up with a broad deficit reduction deal to block the cuts, Boehner said he is “happy” to talk with Obama but Congress should follow “regular order.”
He offered a tart retort to another scribe’s question about why Republicans believed new tax increases should be off-the-table, given that the GOP has won more spending cuts than Democrats have won tax increases in the last few rounds of fiscal battles.
“How much more money do we want to steal from the American people to fund more government? I’m for no more,” Boehner quipped.
Asked if he was concerned about the “optics” of House members leaving town today, just as the so-called sequester is set to take effect, Boehner didn’t directly respond.
“I’ll be here tomorrow,” he said, noting that he and other congressional leaders are scheduled to meet at the White House with Obama. But, he added, “we’ve laid our cards on the table. We’ve shown that we can pass bills to replace the sequester. It’s time for the Senate to act.”
If you missed it on Tuesday, below is the video where Boehner said that the Senate needs to “get off their ass.”
“It’s time for the Senate to act,” Boehner said during a media availability after the meeting, according to Politico. “It’s not about the House. We’ve acted. Where’s the president’s plan to avoid the sequester? Have you seen one? I haven’t seen one. All I’ve heard is he wants to raise taxes again. Where’s the president’s plan? Where’s the Senate Democrats’ plan? I want to see it.”
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