Congressman Boehner: We're Still Waiting on You to Get Serious

     So all pretense of progress seems to be going now. Harry Reid the other day pointed out that very little has been accomplished. The GOP has done nothing except make an issue of showing daylight between them and Grover Norquist-as if that means anything by itself as E.J. Dionne points out.

      "Here’s the first lesson from the early skirmishing over ways to avoid the fiscal cliff: Democrats and liberals have to stop elevating Grover Norquist, the anti-government crusader who wields his no-tax pledge as a nuclear weapon, into the role of a political Superman."

      "Pretending that Norquist is more powerful than he is allows Republicans to win acclaim they haven’t earned yet. Without making a single substantive concession, they get loads of praise just for saying they are willing to ignore those old pledges to Grover. You can give him props as a public relations genius. Like Ke$ha or Beyonce, he is widely known in Washington by only one name. But kudos for an openness to compromise should be reserved for Republicans who put forward concrete proposals to raise taxes."

       http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-ignore-grover-norquist-but-learn-from-him/2012/11/28/acee576e-3995-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_story.html?hpid=z2

       Now Boehner is saying there's been no progress throughout the last two weeks. There most certainly hasn't been. But who's fault is that? As usual the Boehner is pointing fingers:

       "John Boehner shook things up today when he told reporters at a press conference that the fiscal talks are in trouble. He said (emphasis mine):

“Based on where we stand today, I would say two things. First, despite the claims that the president supports a balanced approach, the Democrats have yet to get serious about real spending cuts. And secondly, no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the White House and the House over the last two weeks.”
 

        http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line

        As Greg Sargent points out, the Democrats have already agreed to plenty of spending cuts-the $40 billion in the 2011 budget agreement and then the $1 trillion in the debt ceiling deal. When is the GOP going to get serious about revenue? Until now all we've heard is talk about loopholes. If this is what we wanted we would have elected Mitt Romney. If Boehner wants to get serious he can start by offering up a plan that is in some way distinguishable than the failed Mitt Romney approach.

       Yet, he's right that Democrats aren't serious about spending cuts-this time around. For one thing, they've caved enough.

        "I continue to find this a curious interpretation of recent events. It’s unclear whether Boehner is saying Dems are not serious about spending cuts in the context of the current fiscal talks or that they have never gotten serious about them. But either way, it continues to get lost in the discussion that Democrats did agree to two rounds of major spending cuts during Obama’s first term — totaling well over $1 trillion — and got no tax hikes in return for them."

        The Democrats are making it clear that entitlement cuts-or any kind of entitlement reform-will not be part of any deal for the fiscal cliff. The tax cuts for 98% of Americans must be extended. Full stop.

        About this, the Dems are serious. There won't be any entitlement cuts until Boehner and his GOPers get serious about revenue. The key word is serious-not the Romney-Ryan plan that wasn't in any way serious.

        They're also serious about not again leaving the debt ceiling as a future Republican bargaining chip:

         "While House Press Secretary Jay Carney declined on Wednesday to say whether it was the administration's hope that debt ceiling be resolved in any grand-bargain deal that takes place during the lame-duck session."

          "But two top Democratic sources confirmed to The Huffington Post that the president, in private meetings and conversations, has made it abundantly clear to Boehner that he wants the debt ceiling raised as part of the current package being negotiated. In comments to reporters on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) echoed this position."

         "We are not idiots," A Senate Democratic aide said, speaking anonymously to (colorfully) outline the caucus' thinking. "And we are not going to sign a deal to get past a fiscal cliff and then turn around and have Republicans force us into another deal two months later."

          http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/29/debt-ceiling-showdown-obama_n_2212368.html

          Not clear what Boehner is doing here. Sometimes it seems much of what the GOP says these days is just a pathetic attempt gain back all the face they've lost. Maybe Boehner is just nostalgic for the old days in 2011 right after the "shellacking" when the GOP thought it had a huge mandate and lots of clout.

           For him to say "My way of the highway" now is almost cute. When I say they're just trying to save face, I think of how they started discussing having all taxpayers with income above $400,000 pay all their taxes at the 35% rate-ending the lower marginal rates for them. This would have raised their rate to 41% but at least technically they could still claim it's only 35%.

           http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/11/what-does-gop-need-to-make-deal.html

           Maybe this same paper tiger syndrome was behind his boasting to President Obama that the debt ceiling is his leverage. In any case this has backfired as it was this that firmed Democratic resolve that getting the debt ceiling raised must be part of any deal on the fiscal cliff.