Posted on 11/20/2012 8:51:24 AM PST by Qbert
Speaker John Boehner is tightening his grip on the House Republican Conference weeks before an anticipated vote on a deficit deal.
The Ohio Republican has smoothed over differences with Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), expanded his powers on the panel that doles out plum committee assignments, shot down a challenge to his earmark moratorium and worked behind the scenes to ensure that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) would win her leadership contest.
All of Boehner’s moves are aimed at shoring up his influence over the GOP conference, which in turn maximizes the Speaker’s leverage with President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Boehner can’t afford to waste any of that leverage, which took a major hit in the elections that delivered Obama a second term and increased the number of Democrats in both the House and Senate. Any bipartisan agreement on taxes and spending reached by the White House and Boehner will test GOP unity — a test House Republicans largely failed over the last two years.
Democrats seized on chaos in the House GOP ranks to divide and conquer Republicans at the negotiating table during the payroll tax extension debate earlier this year.
Administration officials and senior Democrats in Congress openly mused about tension between Boehner and Cantor, saying it played to their advantage.
However, the soap opera between Boehner and Cantor and their staffs, which dominated headlines in the summer of 2011 and into early 2012, has faded.
“There’s a very strong relationship [building] effort going on there,” a GOP lawmaker at the leadership table told The Hill, noting that Cantor last week delivered the speech nominating Boehner to be Speaker while Boehner nominated the Virginia Republican for majority leader.
Both Boehner and Cantor ran unopposed, but the symbol of the nominating speeches to the entire House Republican Conference was important and “clearly thought out,” the source said.
In 2010, Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) nominated Boehner to be Speaker; Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) nominated Cantor for majority leader.
Lawmakers and others close to Boehner say the Speaker has more sway than he did over House Republicans following the Tea Party wave of 2010. Others maintain the jury is still out.
Yet Boehner’s internal support was on display when McMorris Rodgers, his favored candidate, captured the No. 4-ranked GOP leadership post.
The battle to be the head of the House GOP conference was a hard-fought one between McMorris Rodgers and former Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (Ga.).
Boehner never officially endorsed McMorris Rodgers, but his support for her was well-known. Price, meanwhile, was backed by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
Boehner was quick to include Ryan, back from the presidential campaign trail, in a small group of key lawmakers advising him of strategies ahead of the fiscal-cliff negotiations with the White House.
The appointment was a shrewd one; if Ryan endorses a fiscal-cliff pact, many conservatives in the House will fall in line.
Camp, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) also sit in on the fiscal-cliff meetings.
Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith told The Hill that House Republicans are “the last line of defense against a government that spends, taxes and borrows too much.”
Smith added that “taking on that responsibility demands that we field the strongest team possible and put members in a position where their talents and expertise can be fully utilized on behalf of the conference and its goals.”
Boehner rewards loyalty, and his power on the GOP Steering Committee — which selects panel chairmen and other committee slots — has been expanded.
Boehner now has five votes on the committee, up from four. Cantor has three and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has two, while everyone else registers one vote.
Boehner last week cut off a challenge to the earmark moratorium that he implemented in the conference years ago. After Boehner made his opposition clear, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) withdrew his amendment before it came to a roll-call vote.
A respected and affable Speaker, Boehner has nonetheless struggled to secure votes on high-profile bills in the 112th Congress.
He has needed Democratic votes to pass bills on averting a government shutdown and raising the debt limit.
Boehner is well-aware that there will be GOP defections on a potential fiscal-cliff deal, though he will seek to rally as much support as he can for whatever agreement is brokered.
In the wake of the GOP’s stinging losses in the election, Boehner acknowledged that his party would be willing to accept “new revenue” — code for tax increases — if the president were willing to cut spending and reform entitlement programs.
On Monday, Boehner attempted to play offense as his press office circulated an email titled “GOP open to revenue via tax reform; now let’s talk spending cuts.”
Boehner doesn’t give a damn about conservatives and their issues.
The party has tried its bet to get rid of tea party conservatives.
Got to go along to get along and they ALL b making money.
It goes without saying that the DNC is corrupt greedy. That is not a revelation.
That said, does anyone really have confidence in the GOP establishment, at this point?
Where does that leave Conservative Americans?
I was living on the hope that “O’s” abysmal performance in his first term would certainly preclude a second term for him.
Now, I ‘m not sure that “O’s” equally (if not worse) second term will keep ANOTHER Liberal out of the WH.
It’s a desperate situation for Conservatives. Among the many challenges they face in the next four years are:
• Clarify their relationship (if any remains) with the GOP establishment
• If there really is NO common ground with the GOP establishment, formalize their status as an alternate party
• Groom and field alternate and electable candidates for offices across the board, including a Presidential nominee strong enough and committed enough to challenge a GOP nominee
• Articulate a clear and forceful posture on the basic issues and STICK TO IT!
• Pledge to US and to EACH OTHER that absolutely NO intimidation by the Liberals and their biased MSM creatures will go unanswered
It will be impossible to go on and continue calling ourselves Conservatives if at least THIS much isn’t accomplished.
Of course they have. That's obviously what they've been saying for years.
is a situation where loopholes are taken out, without reduced rates (which effectively is a tax increase)... all for a "binding" promise next year
Don't think so. Reid is the one who has called for everything to be negotiated now while Obama's popularity is highest (including so-called entitlemmet reform). They don't want any part of a deal to go till next year when the Obamacare taxes are hitting.
Boehner will likely put off some of the negotiations till next year (in order to see Obama's popularity diminish first) but will tie it to something the Dems want now to force them back to the table.
Regardless of what a scumball Boehner is, let’s be clear on one point: The Hill is a Marxist publication designed to promote fascism and communism, and the commie slut who wrote this did so to infuriate and divide conservatives.
Personally, I myself don't believe ANYTHING the media writes about Boehner knowing this is exactly their intention. OF COURSE their intent is to get conservatives to despise their leader.
They succeeded in getting Hastert hated so Pelosi could take over.
Their ploy works just about every time.
Yes, he's tough with his fellow Republicans. Shoot down the Earmarks, then give Barry and company a few trillion for THEIR cronies.
It might make sense if the Republicans swore off earmarks and then used it as a powerful propaganda weapon against the Democrats. But did they even mention it during the late campaign? Do the news media ever mention it? Does anyone know about it? Or remember it from about four years ago or whenever it was that they first did it?
Nothing like beating yourself over the head and not even making any practical use of it.
I consider the media our main enemy. This is where the most active and effective commies live. Their purpose has been twofold: 1) raise Obama and 2) get us to train our guns on the GOP.
If ALL guns were pointed at the media instead of ourselves this would solve 90% of the problem IMO.
Replace Boehner.
This is exactly what he is supposed to do. They are all whored out to the elites that own them exclusively.
Boehner has shored up his power. Great now he can lead the whole GOP cadre over the cliff with him. We are so screwed.
I am afraid they do get it, they just hope that we don't see what party they really belong to.
Working people have nothing they can deduct now except Union Dues, uniforms and Mortgage interest.
We got a 10-10-10 rate cut under Reagan, it was touted as thirty percent but not true.
100-10% =90
90-10%=81
81-10% = 72.9
Effective cut = 27%
Working stiffs lost nearly all breaks making it hard to file anything other than a standard short form. That is why tax the rich is such an effective meme.
Not true, Louie Gomert nominated Newt Gingrich's as a candidate for Speaker.
Oddly enough the Speaker of the House does not need to be a member of Congress.
I expect Louie will have an attractive opponent in the next election.
He was lambasted when he folded in the "shut the Gov't down" fight.
He resigned shortly after amid accusations that he was having an affair.
Not a good choice.
Then they have an easy task, I hated Boehner before he was Speaker, he is a GOPe scum, he hated West and Bachman, almost got rid of both.
Yes, they know how to win no matter who the leader is.
Do you work for Boehner? Anyone who thinks that Boehner does not HATE Conservatives with a white-hot passion is delusional.
House members actually like and respect him.
LOL. some may say that publicly, but with Boehner ruling with an iron first the can't speak honestly about Beohner without unfairly being punished.
I will bookmark this thread. I have absolutely no doubt that Boehner will capitulate. I will come back to remind you of your sickening sycophantic support of a the rabid Statist known as Boehner.
He refused to answer the phone when Obama chased him, sending Obama into a tantrum.
I'm hoping the same thing happens again. No, I don't work for the Speaker.
Are you sure?
Got proof?
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