Boehner to Obama: "Deal honestly" on "fiscal cliff"

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who suffered an embarrassing setback this week with the failure of his "Plan B" proposal in the House, used his weekly address today to call on President Obama to "deal honestly" with the fiscal problems facing the country and again underscore the GOP's aversion to raising taxes.

Boehner reminded Americans of what's at stake in the next 10 days, saying, "As you know, unless President Obama and Congress take action, tax rates will go up on every American on January 1.

"The day after that, a mandatory 'sequester' will go into effect that will implement harmful cuts to our national defense," explained Boehner. "That is currently the law of the land."

Arguing that "The House has done its part to avert this entire fiscal cliff," Boehner cited the passage of "legislation that would replace the 'sequester' with responsible spending cuts and "a bill to stop all of the January 1 tax hikes."

"Unfortunately, the president and Senate Democrats have vowed to reject and veto all of our proposals while failing to offer a responsible solution of their own," he said.

Boehner explained, "What the president has offered so far simply won't do anything to solve our spending problem and begin to address our nation's crippling debt," accusing the president of refusing "to challenge the members of his party to deal honestly with entitlement reform and the big issues facing our nation."

"I've challenged the members of our party to grapple with these issues, to make tough choices," said Boehner, eliding the fact that many in his own caucus rebelled against his "Plan B" compromise this week.

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"The president's solution of raising tax rates would still leave red ink as far as the eye can see," argued Boehner. "And it would hurt jobs, at a time when far too many of our citizens are struggling to find them."

"I used to run a small business," he added. "I've seen the damage higher taxes can do to jobs and families. I don't want tax rates to go up. Republicans don't want tax rates to go up. The best way to address our crippling debt is to make significant spending cuts and fix our tax code to pave the way for long-term growth and opportunity."

Despite the gulf between the two parties just ten days from the "fiscal cliff," Boehner remained optimistic: "Of course, hope springs eternal, and I know we have it in us to come together and do the right thing,"

"For now, I wish all the American people a blessed and Merry Christmas."

[sueb45]

Boehner, who doesn't know how to keep his word (also called lying) tells someone else to be honest? John lies more than Mitt did!!!

[FordJeepFan]

Hey Bonehead, When are you going to see More people voted for the Democrat Plan Than votedfor the Republicann plan.
You just need to get over yourself.

[WHAT-IS-HE-SMOKING]

"The day after that, a mandatory 'sequester' will go into effect that will implement harmful cuts to our national defense," explained Boehner. "That is currently the law of the land."

Now remember Johnny Boy you voted for that bill!!!!

[sueb45]

The wonderful thing about the GOP is the ability to be super selective in what you remember...and if you don't like something you do remember, you get to re-write the history of it!!!

[johntlofty]

Boehner wants Obama to deal honestly? Boehner can't even deliver votes for his own "Plan B" budget, let alone any sensible compromise. What is Obama's incentive to continue negotiating with Boehner? Hopefully, there are 20 or 30 Republicans in the House who are willing to vote for a sensible compromise rather than embrace the partisan dysfunction. There will be time to revisit the deficit as the economy continues to recover, but preserving the recovery is more important than the Norquist Pledge, right now.

[alanrobisch]

honestpatriot replies: Extremists in the Republican party -- and Boehner himself is NOT among these -- place rigid ideology above the interests of the nation. Boy how balanced I guess the president and leftists on his side are not extremists. Extremism is in the eye of the beholder and the opinion of the MSM conservatism is an extemist point of view. You have an agenda too honest and I suspect you voted for Obama this time around despite his failure to revive the economy

[honestpatriot]

Failure to revive the economy? We have in fact recovered substantially from the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression. I simply reject the right-wing propaganda that ignores the reality of the financial crisis and its devastating economic impact, which would have presented ANY occupant of the White House with a grave challenge. The fact is that there has been steady improvement in employment, the housing market and consumer confidence during the past 2 and a half years. We would all like to see more gains; Republican intransigence on everything from job creation to the debt ceiling does not help.

[alanrobisch]

Honest as I guessed you are a koolaid drinker this is the slowest recovery in american hisstory outside of the great depression. Reagan's actions moved us out of a much worse situation and created 6 million new jobs. net growth in 4 yrs 1.6 million under obama. He has impeded the recovery by adding his obama care and volumns of new regulation. He is totally distrusted by the business comunity. He has stigmatized the very people who drive the economy. honest you say Republican intransigence on everything from job creation to the debt ceiling does not help. He had two yrs to address this uninhibited and his only accomplishment was putting us in severe debt without accomplishing much of anything. If I understand correctly the actual percentage of people employed has declined during his presidency. With this failure he should have lost his job but apparently the democrats demonization of Romney was a unqualified success. I have a friend a strong democrat who said he would have voted for anyone else other than Romney. Ie he wasn't thrilled with Obama either.

[TimeToEvolve]

Boner is the schmuck who said they would negotiate by they would not compromise. Obama is wasting his time with half wit, half brained Republicon reactionary Wall Street puppets. Bonehead and his gang are just all about the Top 1% who own and operate them.

[alanrobisch]

Gee tell us how you really feel. Your attitude would go a long way toward a reasoned compromise. Your opinion is typical of progressives and your language indicates you are Jewish. Have you ever heard of the rothchilds one of the wealthiest bankers. He was Jewish as are many businessman. It seems you don't like people who make money the old fashioned way by working for it. No you prefer we become a culture controlled by the govt. You are giving up your freedom for a false sense of security. Remember he who controls the purse strings controls the power. Please note greece and france who are in real financial problems like ours because they have gone the way the president wants us to go. there is a famous saying he who does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it.

[silvereagle2718]

The real fiscal cliff comes in a few months when Obama wants the Republican majority in the House to pass a debt limit increase. Everything before that is the prologue, and everything after that is somebody trying to explain themselves to the voters. Except for this, the Republicans have no power.

The politicians decided to pass the buck to the voters, and the voters passed it back. Now it's the politicians' turn again. The Republicans either have the backbone to stand down Obama (and shut down the federal government for a year or so, regardless of consequences) or they don't. Ignoring the limits on the federal government's borrowing authority may be an impeachable offense.

Some or all of the politicians then have to explain themselves during their reelection campaigns. Personally, I would have preferred that the voters decide.

[Think4times]

Replace Congress with the WWF, they will probably do just as good of a job, if not better.

Idiocracy.

[honestpatriot]

This is all Boehner has left -- a rhetorical assault on the President. The Republican caucus is in tatters and unable to agree amongst its members, leaving President Obama without a negotiating partner.

[nfission235]

So true, Boehner is useless.

[TJphoto]

Mr. Speaker, I didn't know that the word "Honestly" was in the Republican vocabulary or in the Republican Playbook.