WestChesterBuzz.com

John Kiesewetter reports:

TV’s best drama on Tuesday won’t be “NCIS,” “Vegas” or “Justified.”

PBS has a terrific high-stakes cliffhanger with back-stabbing, double-crossing and naked ambition: PBS’ “Frontline” examination of last year’s fiscal cliff negotiations.

House Speaker John Boehner, the West Chester Township Republican, plays the lead role in the hour (8 p.m., Channels 48, 16) before President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

“Frontline” provides great insight into how Boehner, the “consummate political insider,” is caught in the middle between an “arrogant” president riding high after re-election and new conservative House Republicans from the 2010 midterm tea party revolution.

“He has resolute opponents on both fronts … and no one is cutting him any slack,” says Jack Farrell of the National Journal.

Boehner tells “Frontline” his December deal with Obama fell apart when the president demanded $400 billion more in revenues two days later.

“We had worked out the numbers,” Boehner said. “I had an agreement on Sunday. … But he wanted more revenues.”

When the wheels fell off at the cliff’s edge, Obama blasted Republicans by asking: “Can they say yes to anything?”

Boehner fired back at a news conference: “Dealing with the White House is like dealing with a bowl of Jell-O. They moved the goal posts.”

It’s the best TV profile I’ve seen of Boehner – and a depressing picture about the continuing fight over our fiscal problems.

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Tags: Tags: fiscal cliff, John Boehner, John Boehner Cincinnati, John Boehner fiscal cliff, John Boehner West Chester

Burdened with governing, speaker faces scorn of GOP firebrands

John Boehner, R-Ohio, center, enters the House of Representatives chamber after surviving a roll call vote for House Speaker on Capitol Hill. Photo taken Jan. 3, 2013, by J. Scott Applewhite of the Associated Press.

Deidre Shesgreen reports:

Soon after John Boehner arrived in Washington in 1991, he became a darling of the rising conservative movement. Nobody’s idea of a moderate Republican or a wishy-washy compromiser, Boehner made a splash by challenging GOP leaders and taking on the status quo.

Now, as he begins his second term as House speaker, the West Chester Republican is the target of withering attacks from some conservatives who say he’s a spineless sellout – quick to compromise core GOP principals and ideologically rudderless as he tries to keep his grip on power.

What has changed?

The party has tilted rightward, with the influx of tea party conservatives and upstart advocacy groups. The economic and political climate has shifted, with spiraling deficits taking center stage and hyper-partisanship making compromise nearly impossible.

Boehner himself is a different lawmaker, too, gaining a pragmatic streak as he worked his way up the leadership ladder.

How much each of these factors explains Boehner’s current predicament – in which right-wing activists are blasting nearly every move he makes and his grasp on the speaker’s gavel seems tenuous – depends on whom you ask.

A spokeswoman for Boehner said he was unavailable for an interview for this story. In a statement, Boehner said: “I have always listened to the people of the 8th District and tried to represent them in Congress effectively and with integrity. As I’ve always said: If you do things for the right reasons, good things will happen. I’ve lived my life with that outlook and have no plans to change now.”

‘Ideologically’ a tea partier

Boehner’s friends and allies say his fundamental political philosophy has not changed. They say he is essentially the same rock-ribbed conservative as when he was first elected to represent Ohio’s 8th Congressional District in 1990 on a campaign of lower taxes and less government regulation. Boehner simply faces different challenges now, supporters say, because, as the most powerful Republican in Washington, he is weighted with the competing tasks of producing legislative results and leading an increasingly fractious GOP conference.

“He was tea party before there was a tea party,” said Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Genoa Township, one of Boehner’s closest friends in the House. “Ideologically, he’s still there.”

His old Cincinnati friends see him as “the same John that was a township trustee” in the 1980s, said Greg Jolivette, a former Butler County Commissioner who ran against Boehner as a Democrat in the 1990 congressional election.

“He’s walking in the tall cotton now, but he is still grounded in the same core family values that molded his career,” said Jolivette, who became a Republican after that race, saying it made him realize he had the same political views as Boehner.

“I think he’s the same person he was in 1981,” said Carlos Todd, who was elected that year along with Boehner to serve as a Union Township trustee. “He had a knack for dealing with people and getting things done, and I think he’s the same way today.” (more…)

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Tags: Tags: fiscal cliff, John Boehner, John Boehner Cincinnati, John Boehner fiscal cliff, John Boehner West Chester

After taking his licks, Boehner back in the saddle

Rep. John Boehner of West Chester was re-elected as Speaker of the House on Thursday. Photo taken by J. Scott Applewhite of the Associated Press.

Deirdre Shesgreen of the Associated Press reports:

Republican John Boehner was re-elected as Speaker of the House after a tense roll call vote in which a handful of GOP lawmakers voted for someone else.

It was a far different scene that his first election to Speaker, when he received unanimous GOP support. It was also a clear signal of the rocky path forward for the West Chester Republican.

In a stunning display of open rebellion, nine Republican House members voted for someone other than Boehner, including the four lawmakers who were stripped of key committee assignments after they regularly bucked GOP leaders.

As the clerk called the roll, the defections seemed to edge perilously close to 17 – the number needed to throw the speaker’s election to a second ballot.

There were rumbles and boos in the chamber as one GOP opponent after another cast an anti-Boehner vote. Eric Cantor, Boehner’s top lieutenant in the House – and a chief political rival – snagged three votes for speaker. Newly elected Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was among those opposing Boehner, voting for Rep. Justin Amash of Mich., another rebel and libertarian firebrand.

In the end, Boehner won with 220 votes – more than enough to keep the speaker’s gavel. But the vote offered a far different scene than his first election to speaker two years ago, when he received unanimous GOP support.

And it provided a clear signal of the rocky path forward for the West Chester Republican as Boehner tries to govern a deeply fractious caucus in the new Congress.

“I’m just trying to represent the people of my district who are frustrated,” Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., a leader of the revolt, said as he held up a manila folder that he said was filled with emails from constituents who “don’t want Boehner to be speaker.” (more…)

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Tags: Tags: fiscal cliff, John Boehner, John Boehner Cincinnati, John Boehner fiscal cliff, John Boehner West Chester

Unseating a sitting Speaker almost impossible

House Speaker Rep. John Boehner of West Chester, pauses while speaking to the media about the fiscal cliff on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. Photo taken by Jacquelyn Martin of the Associated Press.

Deirdre Shesgreen reports:

“Is Boehner finished as Speaker?” blared a headline at the top of the conservative Drudge Report website on Wednesday morning.

That question got fresh traction after the West Chester Republican on Tuesday helped ensure passage of a fiscal cliff deal reviled by a majority of his GOP troops. There’s more grumbling among conservatives about Boehner’s leadership skills. There are new questions about whether Boehner’s top deputy has his eye on the speaker’s chair. And conservative reporters are writing breathless stories, like the one on Drudge, about a mini-plot to oust Boehner.

So what are the chances of a surprise coup on Thursday?

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“Zero,” said Charles Stewart III, a political scientist at MIT and expert on political leadership.

Despite all the grousing and discontent, it’s a virtual certainty that Boehner will sail to re-election as speaker of the House on Thursday. Stewart and others say it would be both logistically and politically tough to defeat Boehner. No sitting speaker has ever lost a House floor re-election vote, which is what happens at noon Thursday.

No one has stepped up to challenge Boehner in what will be a public vote on the House floor.

Like other speakers, Boehner has used both carrots and sticks – raising millions for GOP allies and cutting rebels from key committees. And the band of conservatives who are unhappy with him is relatively small, albeit very vocal.

“It’s hard for me to see an internal candidate who would challenge Boehner successfully,” said Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, who said there was only an “outside chance” of a surprise result Thursday.

The reason? “Most of the Republicans in the House, even if they are upset with how he’s handled things, like him personally, owe him something because he’s campaigned tirelessly for many of them, and don’t have a great alternative,” said Ornstein.

Rumbles and grumbles, but no opponents
Political experts say it’s also a decent bet, barring a major scandal, that Boehner will hold on to his gavel for the duration of the 113th Congress – although his grip on it might seem pretty weak at times. (more…)

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Tags: Tags: fiscal cliff, John Boehner, John Boehner Cincinnati, John Boehner fiscal cliff, John Boehner West Chester

Speaker of the House John Boehner of West Chester became the 61st Speaker of the House on Jan. 5, 2011. Photo taken by Michael E. Keating.

West Chester’s John Boehner, the U.S. House Speaker, is not exactly getting a vote of confidence from Americans on his handling of the so-called ‘fiscal cliff.’

• Poll: On the fiscal cliff, what should Boehner do?

A poll out Wednesday showed only 26 percent of Americans approve of Boehner’s handling of the fiscal cliff – compared to 54 percent who approve of President Barack Obama’s handling of it.

In general, Gallup notes, numbers for Obama and the Democrats are headed up; Boehner and the Republicans are languishing.

Americans are also getting more pessimistic that Congressional leaders will reach a deal with the White House to avoid the cliff.

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Tags: Tags: fiscal cliff, John Boehner, John Boehner Cincinnati, John Boehner fiscal cliff, John Boehner West Chester

House Speaker John Boehner spoke to the media about the fiscal cliff at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. AP Photo by Jacquelyn Martin.

Deirdre Shesgreen reports:

Still reeling from an embarrassing GOP revolt against his back-up proposal to avert the fiscal cliff, John Boehner on Friday offered up a low-volume, no-frills assessment of his failure to muscle that “Plan B” through the House.

“Not the outcome that I wanted, but that was the will of the House,” the West Chester Republican and House Speaker told reporters at a news conference Friday morning, 14 hours after chaos erupted inside his House GOP conference.

Despite Boehner’s calm demeanor, this latest twist in the fiscal-cliff saga raises fresh questions about how effective the Ohio Republican’s leadership style is and how firm his grip on the Speaker’s gavel is.

After publicly saying he had the votes to pass legislation that would have allowed tax rates to go up on people who earn more than $1 million a year, Boehner had to yank the proposal at the last minute in the face of fierce resistance from conservatives.

The bill was never going to become law – it was aimed at strengthening Boehner’s hand in negotiations with President Barack Obama over how to avert the combination of tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect at the beginning of January, which some economists say would throw the country back into a recession. But GOP hard-liners weren’t interested in bolstering Boehner if it meant voting for a tax hike.

Boehner shrugged off a suggestion on Friday that he should be worried about being ousted from the Speaker’s chair in the wake of Thursday’s GOP rebellion. He said opponents of his back-up tax plan were not lashing out at him.

“I don’t think they were taking that out on me,” he said. “They were dealing with the perception that somebody might accuse them of raising taxes.”

And Boehner’s allies say he will sail to a second term as speaker next month when the 113th Congress convenes.

“Are there a handful of people who don’t like John Boehner and would love to see him go? Sure,” said Pat Tiberi, R-Genoa Township. “And they’re very loud and they’re all over talk radio and they’re all over cable news.”

But the vast majority of House Republicans strongly support Boehner and any challenge to him would fall far short, Tiberi said.

“Despite the fact that people say he’s weakened internally, he’s stronger than ever,” Tiberi said. “John Boehner has no problem becoming Speaker on Jan. 3, period and end of story.” (more…)

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Jim Kuhnhenn and Julie Pace of the Associated Press report:

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner pushed ahead on negotiating a broad deal to avert the “fiscal cliff,” even as the GOP leader readied a backup plan Tuesday to pressure the White House with little time left to avoid a double hit on the economy.

Speaker of the House John Boehner of West Chester became the 61st Speaker of the House on Jan. 5, 2011. Photo taken by Michael E. Keating.

Boehner said his plan would address the burgeoning deficits and that the president has failed to produce a balance plan in weeks of post-election negotiations.

But the speaker’s alternative was a nonstarter with the White House and Democrats, and — perhaps more damaging to its prospects — it got a frosty reception from rank-and-file House Republicans in a morning closed-door meeting.

GOP aides said the leadership strategy is to pass the alternative plan in the House and send it to the Senate. There, Republicans would use their clout to block Democratic alternatives.

Even as he offered his alternative plan, Boehner indicated that negotiations with Obama continue. Economists inside and outside the government have warned that the combination of spending cuts and tax hikes could stall a weak recovery and threaten a new recession.

“I continue to have hope that we can reach a broader agreement with the White House” that would cancel the tax increases and spending cuts now poised to begin in early January, Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters.

But he said when it comes to offering a package that balances tax increases with spending cuts, “The president is not there yet.” (more…)

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David Espo and Jim Kuhnhenn of the Associated Press reports:

President Barack Obama has agreed to curtail future cost-of-living increases for recipients of Social Security and softened his demand for higher taxes at upper income levels as part of accelerating negotiations with House Speaker John Boehner to avoid a “fiscal cliff,” people familiar with the talks said Monday.

House Speaker John Boehner fires up his hometown during a Mitt Romney that drew more than 30,000 people in West Chester just days before Election Day 2012. Photo taken by Adam Kiefaber.

Speaking a few hours after Obama and Boehner met at the White House, these people said the president was now seeking a higher tax rate beginning at incomes over $400,000, up from the levels of $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples that were cornerstones of his successful campaign for re-election.

Obama’s willingness to reduce future cost-of-living increases in Social Security, government retirement and numerous other programs marked another clear concession to Boehner, although it came with an asterisk. The president wants lower-income recipients to receive protection against any loss from scaling back future cost of living increases, these officials said.

Nor did Obama’s offer include raising the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67, a Republican goal that has drawn particularly strong objections from Democratic liberals.

Several officials also said during the day that Boehner’s offer late last week to accept higher tax rates included provisions that would mean higher taxes on investment income and dividends earned by wealthy Americans and also in the estate tax.

The people who described the talks did so on condition of anonymity, citing the secretive nature of the discussions.

The maneuvering is aimed at reaching an agreement that would include cancellation of a scheduled year-end hike in taxes for nearly all wage-earners as well as spending cuts at the Pentagon and in domestic programs across the government.

Economists inside and outside the government have warned that the combination of the two, set to begin at year’s end, could send the economy into recession. (more…)

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Tags: Tags: fiscal cliff, John Boehner, John Boehner Cincinnati, John Boehner fiscal cliff, John Boehner West Chester

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. Photo taken by Carolyn Kaster of the AP.

USA Today’s David Jackson reports:

While attention has shifted to the horrific school shooting in Connecticut — and deservedly so — White House and congressional officials continue to talk about ways to avoid the fiscal cliff.

Things are moving, but it’s hard to assess the prospects for success because neither side is saying much.

Sources say House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has offered to raise the top income tax rate, affecting Americans who make more than $1 million annually.

President Obama, however, wants to raise the top two tax rates, covering taxpayers who make more than $250,000 a year. He says the government needs more revenue to help reduce a national debt that now exceeds $16 trillion.

There are also reports that Boehner has offered to increase the debt ceiling as part of a deal.

Boehner aides, while not commenting on the reports, have said that debt reduction agreement must include major spending cuts, including the fast-growing entitlement programs of Social Security and Medicare.

“Our position has not changed,” said Boehner spokesman Michael S. Steel. “Any debt limit increase would require cuts and reforms of a greater amount.”

Both sides face an end-of-the-year deadline to avoid the fiscal cliff, a series of tax hikes and budget cuts that take effect in the absence of a debt reduction agreement.

With time running out, expect more movement in the week ahead — we’re just not sure which direction.

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Tags: Tags: fiscal cliff, John Boehner, John Boehner Cincinnati, John Boehner fiscal cliff, John Boehner West Chester

Deirdre Shesgreen reports:

House Speaker John Boehner fires up his hometown during a Mitt Romney that drew more than 30,000 people in West Chester just days before Election Day 2012. Photo taken by Adam Kiefaber.

After news reports stirred up the prospect that John Boehner’s hold on the Speaker’s gavel might be shaky, a potential foe said he won’t challenge the West Chester Republican’s leadership position.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Tom Price, R-Georgia, told the Hill newspaper on Monday that the congressman “is not running for Speaker.”

In an interview with the National Review posted on Monday, Price did not rule out a leadership bid and complained about conservatives being muffled in the GOP caucus. His remarks come as conservatives are increasingly worried that Boehner will give away too much in the debt-reduction negotiations with President Barack Obama.

“My concern is that within our conference, conservatives, who are a majority, don’t have a proper platform,” Price told the National Review. “That’s true at the leadership table and on the steering committee.”

Meanwhile, Boehner took the unusual step of giving an update on the fiscal cliff negotiations from the House floor today. He usually delivers such remarks at his weekly press conferences.

But the new locale didn’t translate into a different message. He reiterated his call for Obama to identify spending cuts and to “put forward a plan that can pass.”

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Tags: Tags: fiscal cliff, John Boehner, John Boehner Cincinnati, John Boehner fiscal cliff, John Boehner West Chester