Boehner Backs Senate Deal, Will Bring It to House Floor (Updated)

PASSED BY THE SENATE NOW, THE BILL HEADS TO THE HOUSE

 Speaker John A. Boehner will bring the Senate-crafted deal to end the government shutdown to the House floor and is encouraging Republicans to vote for it, he said in a radio interview.

“We fought the good fight, we just didn’t win,” the Ohio Republican told WLW radio in Cincinnati. He said he expects the government to reopen Thursday.

Boehner also cautioned that there would not be a budget deal unless President Barack Obama and Democrats give up their demands for more tax hikes.

“If they’re going to hold onto their position that we’re always going to raise taxes, then we’re not going to come to a deal,” he said. “But hope springs eternal.”

As for the latest Senate deal, Boehner said that Republicans did everything they could to bring Democrats and the president to the negotiating table and fight Obamacare, but the Democrats refused.

“There is no reason for our members to vote no today,” he said.

Boehner said he would continue to fight.

“There is no giving up on our team and there is no giving up in me,” he said.

The speaker brushed off a questions about Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who pushed the strategy of tying Obamacare to keeping the government open.

“We’re a little bit more independent minded than our friends across the aisle,” Boehner said.

Boehner later released a statement saying blocking the Senate deal would risk default and open the door for Democrats to extract a tax hike and increase spending:


WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) released the following statement regarding the bipartisan Senate agreement to reopen the federal government and avoid a national default: “The House has fought with everything it has to convince the president of the United States to engage in bipartisan negotiations aimed at addressing our country’s debt and providing fairness for the American people under ObamaCare.  That fight will continue.  But blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by the members of the Senate will not be a tactic for us.  In addition to the risk of default, doing so would open the door for the Democratic majority in Washington to raise taxes again on the American people and undo the spending caps in the 2011 Budget Control Act without replacing them with better spending cuts.  With our nation’s economy still struggling under years of the president’s policies, raising taxes is not a viable option. Our drive to stop the train wreck that is the president’s health care law will continue.  We will rely on aggressive oversight that highlights the law’s massive flaws and smart, targeted strikes that split the legislative coalition the president has relied upon to force his health care law on the American people.”

http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/boehner-backs-senate-deal