Boehner Plan 'C': Forfeit Constitutional Role to the Senate - WH Response: 'Congressional Stupidity'

[bigtree]

wiki:

According to the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 7, clause 1), all bills relating to revenue, generally tax bills, must originate in the House of Representatives, consistent with the Westminster system requiring all money bills to originate in the lower house which is why the appropriations bills that are enacted begin with "H.R.", indicating a bill that originated in the House (of course, the Senate can waive that requirement by unanimous consent -60 votes - and initiate any budget bill).

from Steve Benen at Maddow blog:

House Speaker John Boehner had a strategy: strike a deal with President Obama on looming fiscal deadlines, get it passed, and look like a competent policymaker capable of governing. That plan fell apart last week when Boehner's own allies forced him to scrap the negotiations.

So, the Speaker came up with a new strategy: pass a plainly ridiculous "Plan B," send it to the Senate, dare Democrats to defeat it, and avoid blame when everything fell apart. That, too, crashed and burned when Boehner couldn't convince Republicans to have his back.

Left with no "Plan C," it's come to this -- hope the Senate can figure something out:

After a high-level telephone conference call, House Republican leaders called on the Senate to act but opened the door to bringing to the House floor any last-minute legislation the Senate could produce.

"The House will take this action on whatever the Senate can pass, but the Senate first must act," said the statement issued on behalf of Speaker John A. Boehner and his three top lieutenants.

If you're thinking, "Wait, this doesn't make any sense," you're not alone. For one thing, the Senate already acted, passing a bill to freeze lower rates on income up to $250,000, and the House GOP leadership is choosing not to take up the Senate version. For another, there's a Democratic majority in the Senate -- are Harry Reid and his caucus expected to just guess what kind of plan can generate some modicum of Republican support . . .?

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/27/16189329-boehner-unable-to-lead-waits-for-senate-rescue?lite
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Congressional Stupidity

While Boehner put the onus on the president and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a White House official used testy language to put the responsibility back on Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“What we need is for the Senate Minority Leader not to block a vote and for Boehner to allow a vote,” a White House official told ABC News. “The hits to our economy aren’t coming from outside factors, they’re coming from congressional stupidity.”


read more: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/12/fiscal-cliff-deal-in-reids-court/

related:

Reid looking for votes on President's 'scaled down' fiscal cliff package

Reid has made clear in private conversations he does not want to bring any bill to the Senate floor unless he is sure it will pass both the Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-held House.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/26/source-reid-looking-for-votes-on-fiscal-cliff-package/

[bigtree]

1. WaPo

The Washington Post ?@washingtonpost

Reid accuses Boehner of running "dictatorship"

. . . Reid said increasingly the only “escape hatch” out of the stalemate would be for Boehner to allow the House the vote on a measure adopted by the Senate over the summer to extend tax breaks for those making less than $250,000 a year.

“Nothing can move forward in regards to our budget crisis unless Speaker Boehner and [Minority] Leader [Mitch] McConnell are willing to participate in coming up with a bipartisan plan,” Reid said.

“So far, they are radio silent,” he said.

As a result, Reid said the nation is increasingly unlikely to forestall tax hikes on nearly every American and deep automatic spending cuts on Jan. 1.

Reid said Boehner will not bring up the Senate’s bill because he knows it would pass on the votes of Democrats and a handful of Republicans. He charged that the House is now run as Boehner’s own “dictatorship.”

http://wapo.st/UorjS8

[Moosepoop]

2. K&R -- But it should be "Republican Congressional Stupidity"

instead of just "Congressional Stupidity." It's all on them.

[freshwest]

3. Didn't the Senate just pass a bill with $500 billion or so for defense? Defense was supposed to take

Last edited Thu Dec 27, 2012, 02:39 PM - Edit history (1)

$1.6 trillion hit with the cliff... Rough figures, not exact; I've seen the thread here, though.

I didn't like the Senate giving the MIC a free pass when civilian hits are still in the pipeline. Obama and Reid have put changes to Social Security except for raising the cap off the table.

Medicare is only being cut to reduce profits and not services which is driving the GOP nuts. Medicaid is to be left alone, and increased with the ACA which Obama has threatened to veto any changes to make it ineffective.

Those are the programs that are related to life expectancy, not necessarily quality of life, like taxes, but literally saving them. To have one's life said to be of value is a quality of life issue for those who need it, naturally!

The GOP led Congress is doing what it does the best, nothing to help Americans, all to enrich their no longer in the shadows benefactors, lying and pointing fingers at everyone else for the outrage of Americans at the lack of progress.

Nevertheless, the media will make this Obama and Reid's fault, as usual.

[shintao]

5. 1++

Well spoken and constructed to make it easy to understand what is going on. Thank you. I would give you a atta boy if they had a button.

[freshwest]

6. Thanks, we're all working on it as we go!

[dickthegrouch]

4. Finally, removal of euphemisms

Politeness needs to disappear in this debate.
But in its place we need facts. Not opinions, not hyperbole and not hysterics.
When the callers to the Whitehouse, Senate and House know the facts better than the elected representatives we will be able to force some change.