House Speaker John A. Boehner spent much of Thursday confidently predicting that he could pass a plan to avert the year-end “fiscal cliff.”
“Sure did,” Boehner acknowledged with a wry smile Friday, the day after he was forced to cancel the vote due to lack of support. The stunning rebuke by his fellow Republicans was the most critical test of Boehner’s leadership since he assumed control of the new Republican majority two years ago and called into question Boehner’s ability to lead his GOP majority. Boehner said he is not worried about his speakership, but his reputation as a leader could be seriously in danger.
“I think the speaker’s legacy and his leadership are at stake here,” said Lee Hamilton, an Indiana Democrat, who served more than 30 years in the House and is now the director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University. “This is a major moment in his career.”
Hamilton said that, ultimately, Boehner’s reputation probably will be determined by whether Congress and President Obama manage to cut a fiscal cliff agreement and not by one legislative setback.
But late Thursday, Boehner failed to get the 217 votes he needed to pass a plan to extend tax breaks for more than 99 percent of Americans, while allowing them to rise for those making more than $1 million a year. He had already failed to reach a broader bipartisan deficit reduction plan in one-on-one talks with Obama, but the collapse of his own plan left Boehner throwing up his hands and insisting that it was now up to the president and the Democratic-controlled Senate to solve the crisis.
‘It’s one for the textbooks’
The setback seemed monumental.
“On a major piece of legislation that affects taxes and the functioning of government and so many of the things wrapped up in this fiscal cliff, I can’t think of anything comparable,” said Ray Smock, who served as the House’s official historian from 1983 to 1995 and now is director of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies at Shepherd University.
Smock noted the drama of Thursday night’s non-vote, with Boehner on the verge of tears as he announced to his caucus he was canceling the vote and then stormed from the Capitol. “It’s one for the textbooks, I’ll tell you that,” he said.
Despite the defections among his GOP members, there was no sign Friday that Boehner was in immediate danger of being deposed as House leader.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), often cast as Boehner’s leading conservative rival, had likewise leaned on Republicans to approve what Boehner had dubbed “Plan B.”
In a show of support, Cantor appeared at a news conference at Boehner’s side Friday to call for the Senate to extend tax rates for Americans at all income levels, the long-held GOP position.
A spokesman for Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), who some activists have urged to challenge Boehner, said he does not plan to run for the job when the new Congress begins next month.
Asked Friday if he is concerned his job might be jeopardy, Boehner answered simply, “No. I’m not.”
He had attempted to persuade his caucus that the GOP should go on record with a bill to shield the vast majority of Americans from broad tax increases set to take effect next month when tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush are set to expire without congressional action.
Boehner faces a political cliff over budget fracas in Washington
This article
Boehner faces a political cliff over budget fracas in Washington
can be opened in url
http://newsdekagram.blogspot.com/2012/12/boehner-faces-political-cliff-over.html
Boehner faces a political cliff over budget fracas in Washington
