Boehner offers GOP two "cliff" choices

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., left, and Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, arrive to a second Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. / AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin

As House Republicans try to get past an impasse on the "fiscal cliff", House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio presented his members with two options: to amend the bill with new spending cuts or to just vote on the Senate bill as-is.

After meeting with the Republican conference and listening to members' concerns, Boehner cooked up the plan.  According to a GOP leadership aide, the first option would be create an amendment to the Senate bill that would add a $323 billion package of spending cuts. If the House GOP leadership can find 218 votes to support this amendment, they will bring it up for a vote and send an amended bill back to the Senate.

• Eric Cantor: "I do not support" the "cliff" deal
• Senate approves "fiscal cliff" deal

The Speaker and the leader both cautioned members about the risk in such a strategy. They told them there is no guarantee the Senate, which is adjourned until Noon tomorrow, would act on the amended bill. If the House cannot get a commitment of 217 votes for the amendment tonight, GOP leaders will bring up the Senate-passed measure for an up-or-down vote in the House. House Democrats insist there are enough Democratic votes to pass the Senate version of the bill.

Meantime, a Senate Democratic leadership aide told CBS News, "we will absolutely not take up the House bill if they change the bipartisan agreement reached in the Senate."

[NinthSt78]

Someone must have been looking in the right place for the his or hers. If it has a small trunk, it's usually a his, and if it has a large trunk, it's usually a hers.

[stevehamilton858]

I wish that more people with business experience were elected officials. Here is what I know from first-hand experience as a CFO for over 25 years: If you have a cyclical business, some times you have positive cash flow and some times you have a negative cash flow. The best solution to a negative cash flow situation is to grow the business out of the problem. It's always a bad idea to slash expenses. The US economy is no different; if steps are taken to help the economy recover and grow, then taxes paid will rise, and the economy could get back to creating a surplus (positive cash flow).

It's like an algebraic formula that has two variables: income and expense. If you don't like the answer you get, then you should consider change to each of the variables, not just one. for instance I minus E = D or S.

[stevehamilton858]

Well, once again the House Republicans are willing to damage millions of Americans - this time the unemployed - in order to take a "symbolic" vote that won't do anything but delay actions needed to permanently damage the recovering economy - and this after having been out of Washington, to spend the holidays at home. Boy, do these guys really have a good sense of priorities. Let's see, should I go home and screw the country or should I stay here and actually do some work for the six figure salary the country is paying me? This group, particularly the Tea Party supported officials, is toxic to America. If the GOP doesn't soon put in place a decent management team that will reconfigure the party's membership, the GOP will implode before the sun sets on 2013.

[Filmguy870]

If we could de-gerrymander the staes, then we could make 2014 an extinction level event for the GOP...but, alas, this most likely will not happen.

[0Testone]

The biggest conflict in Congress is caused not by concern for the American People but rather by testosterone and endorphin overdose which seem to feed off each other.Its always about who can stand their ground without any give and make the rest of the party feel good about not letting the other party acccomplish anything. I long for the day when technology will allow the voting public to have an immediate influence on issues that have 70% or more of overall support and disallow the minority constantly blocking progress with legal loopholes.

[macira]

AT some point we gained this idea of vicious politics, was it the Likes of Rush and other talk show folks on both sides, was it the folks who grew to some age during the Vietnam ear? Whatever it was has mostly ruined our form of Government, even the President plays the vicious game.
What became of the idea of behaving like Ladies and Gentlemen?
Why can folks not disagree without trying to turn the other side into some sort of evil ogre?

Reflect on that, folks of both sides left and right!!

[stevehamilton858]

I like the sense of your comment, but you're slightly off course. The issue is not whether elected officials behave like ladies and gentlemen. The issue is whether the electees of both parties have read and understand the US Constitution. the drafters of this marvelous document wanted to make sure that all legislation was negotiated among the two chambers and the president - that one part of the triangle could not do anything unilaterally.

Well, anyone who knows anything about negotiation is aware that negotiation requires compromise. Tea Party members and their acolytes don't know that fundamental fact and think that compromise is a dirty word.

The second problem is that America is supposed to be a "Republic", and most elected officials do not know what that means. In summary, it is a form of government modeled after ancient Rome, where the elected officials are supposed to act for the good of the country, not for their own good or for the good of the voters that elected them. If you don't think we're supposed to be a Republic, think back to the Pledge of Allegiance, where you say, "I pledge allegiance to the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands". Today, the overriding concern of electees is getting re-elected, so they pander to the people who voted for or paid for them to be in office.

[WHAT-IS-HE-SMOKING]

The republican house is like the old, who's on first, what's on second.

[RollotheNorman]

LOL count on Boner to try and save himself and his House knuckleheads from ignominy and infamy. Your Repub cubs are going down to public shunning. Everybody, it's open season to spit on RepubliCON Representatives and Senators wherever you encounter them.

[TJphoto]

Personally, I hope that John & Eric really screw this up. If they think they have a shrinking base now. The freight train will be rolling down the tracks filled with the electorate who are really P.O.ed

[stevehamilton858]

I'm with you, but I'd also like to see the Tea Party get thrown under the bus by whoever (if anyone) runs the GOP.

[DoctorGOP]

It is consistantly interesting (and dismaying) to read the writings of most of the posters here who are of obvious liberal/progressive mind-sets and seemingly immune to any thoughts that extend beyond said mind-sets. The phrase "don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is already made up" seems a fitting summary for these individuals. And nowhere is this more evident than in their attitudes towards the "fiscal cliff" situation. Comments like "millions of unemployed Americans are going to be left penniless while the GOP House wastes time with another "symbolic" vote" and "as the RepubliCONS seem determined to increase the mass of unemployed for short term political gain" ignores the stark fact that it the uncontrolled SPENDING of Obama and his Dem minions that is the main objection of the House GOP! How can these posters blithly ignore the crushing financial burden that the Dems have delivered to our children and think that repetition of Administration-supported Talking Points is somehow relevant? Obsfuscation is not a substitute for thinking...and it is VERY clear that the progressives are not thinking...only denying the inconvienent truth.

[Thinkbeforeyouwrite]

Yep, the GOP doesn't suffer from any that conservative/right wing mindset stuff. They always consider the facts and never think emotionally. They have always considered SPENDING to be avoided at all costs because the deficits do matter. Consider how they behaved prior to 2008. Conservatives are always thinking as you can see from so many of these comments.

[OK_DOC]

Not at all. As i think you know, growth of government spending under Obama has been the slowest in decades, certainly much less than that of the Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43 administrations. The much-alleged fiscal conservatism of Republicans is a complete and utter lie.

To the extent that the debt has grown during the Obama administration, one must first look at the revenue hole left by the Bush tax cuts. If Republicans were in any way serious about addressing the US debt, one would think they'd start there.

But they won't, because they're not. It is ONLY the prospect of tax increases for the wealthiest Americans that motivates the House GOP. Nothing else.