After years of placating conservative groups that repeatedly undermined his agenda, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) took direct aim at some of his tea party critics Thursday, accusing them of working against the interests of the Republican Party.
Calling the groups “misleading” and without “credibility,” Boehner pointed to the string of bipartisan deals that passed the House on its last legislative day of 2013 as the sort of “common ground” that should provide a new path for congressional work.
The House voted 332 to 94 on Thursday night to approve a two-year budget outline that would reduce the chance of another government shutdown and end the cycle of crisis budgeting that has been the scourge of Washington for much of the past three years.
With his assault on outside groups that have opposed him time and again over the past three years, Boehner gave voice to a growing feeling among congressional Republicans that their nominal allies at advocacy groups and think tanks have turned into puritanical partisans whose posture on many issues has undermined the GOP’s standing on Capitol Hill. Boehner’s remarks came amid increasingly strident clashes between establishment Republicans and Washington-based groups that claim the tea party banner, most prominently Heritage Action for America, the Club for Growth and FreedomWorks.
The 16-day federal government shutdown in October, largely orchestrated by groups such as Heritage Action, became a pivot point for many longtime Republican lawmakers to begin pushing back against more conservative newcomers.
The turning point for Boehner — who acknowledged feeling this way for several years — was an effort to sabotage the bipartisan budget deal crafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
It’s about time. Paul Ryan and Patty Murray both deserve a standing ovation for their budget deal. It couldn’t have been easy, considering how divided this nation has become. Speaker Boehner also deserves a standing ovation for saying what has needed to be said for years. The special interest groups need to get over it.
We don’t need another government shut down caused by fear of perhaps 25% of the people– who most would consider extremists. The government shutdown cost this country billions. It created a unstable environment for government workers and those who look to the United States as a bulwark against financial uncertainty. It weakened our credit in the eyes of the world.
Will there be fallout for the GOP from the tea party types? Time will tell. Can the GOP survive their wrath? Again, time will tell. I think it all depends on whether normal Republicans cave in to that kind of nonsense or not.
The tea party is over, man. Obamacare website is fixed and is here to stay. Things are looking up for the president and the country!
The GOP is going to have some infighting … something good might come out of it.
The problem plaguing America now is that Congress has gerrymandered so many of their districts that being a moderate is out of vogue. This gerrymandering rewards partisanship rather than moderation. It’s upset the political calculus that used to get things done. Back in the days wghen Congress would do things like, you know, their actual job (passing budgets and voting on nominations) rather than quaking in their boots about what a few people who shout at metings would say about them.
Perhaps now that the problem has grown so obvious, they’ll move away from this trend? Towards districts where you have to cater to the middle rather than to one political party?
Folks, the tea party is alive and well. The Ryan-Murray budget leans much more conservative than it does progressive. Very little in job creation (infrastructure, energy, etc.), more austerity for everthing but the military, a roll-back on controlling Medicare costs (doc fix), but no funding for extending unemployment insurance. I’m not sure how you make that case- over a million Americans will lose their assistance three days after Christmas, but we couldn’t close one tax loophole on big oil.
I guess those hungry kids can beg at the feet of an oil baron for a morsel, just like in the good old days of the Roaring Twenties…
@middleman
What tax loopholes would those be? Are they the same ones that GE used to make a profit using the current tax code and paid NO taxes?
Want to increase jobs?…deregulate, kill the ACA, and simplify the tax code.
The “doc fix” results in less doctors taking medicare.
The military is still being cut. It is merely not taking as big a cut as it would have due to cuts AND sequestration.
Nope..no funding for more unemployment. The Democrats will love that. It will result in the unemployment rate dropping like a rock. That’s why they didn’t fight it. Oh..there won’t be more jobs……just more people not claiming unemployment insurance…like the millions not being counted now.
This of year more doctors postpone taking new medicare patience. They start over on Jan 1.
They have to take medicare patients for federal tax credits.
http://youtu.be/4EQSOwgWG1c
I find it hard to believe the man could grow cajones and a spine at this point in his life.
Cargo, I THINK you agree that we should close tax loopholes- great.
“Deregulate, kill the ACA”- same old GOP mantra. I guess moving closer to the Chinese method of regulation would REALLY make our economy go!
The doc fix restores planned cuts to doctor/hospital reimbursements- you do the math.
I guess I should point out the obvious, Cargo- the unemployment rate and the number of folks on unemployment insurance are two different things. Taking away a lousy $300.00 a month from an unemployed person won’t magically find him a job and take him off the unemployment list- but it may cause him to lose his shelter. Three days after Christmas. In the most prosperous country on earth.
It could also take away his food, in addition to his shelter. It is plain mean-spirited.
I wish Cargo would explain how killing the ACA will create jobs. And what would he deregulate? You keep hearing these same things over and over again from the GOP and the Teapublicans. Would you do away with the EPA so we once agin have dirty air, polluted water, lead paint and who knows what else. How about the Food and Drug Administration–so we can have tainted meat, cruded up milk, killer drugs. Let’s do away with OSHA so we can have more industrial accidents, pollution, etc. Anything else Cargo? Oh yes, the Department of Education and and perhaps HUD.
George, I think some people want exactly what you just suggested. I can’t figure out why.
According to reliable estimates, not extending unemployment insurance will result in the LOSS of over 200,000 jobs. So much for the Republican “jobs plan.”
Boehner too shall pass. Vinceremos.