With Boehner Gone, Nothing Stands Between Wall Street and the Tea Party Disaster It Created

The havoc in the Republican House caucus has finally ended, with the election of the Ayn Rand-reading, Medicare-privatizing "moderate" Paul Ryan as the new Speaker of the House. But a closer look at the recent leadership shakeup reveals the degree to which Congress has become a ruling-class plaything.

The abrupt resignation of Speaker John Boehner was met with shock but not much sentiment. He was the face of the 2013 government shutdown, demanding aggressive spending cuts, and the congressional Republicans' aggressive efforts to undo Obamacare. But while the possible breakup of the Republicans' "Southern strategy" has been much discussed, less attention has gone to the crucial and shifting role in these developments of corporate America, to which the GOP owes its current majorities.

Meet the Right-Wing Rebels Who Overthrew John Boehner

The Republican civil war has claimed its biggest casualty yet. The revolution that toppled John Boehner was carried out by a group of intransigent conservatives who had made the speaker of the House's job hell ever since the Tea Party wave of 2010 elevated him to power. It is only in recent months that this disruptive force in American politics even has a name: the House Freedom Caucus.

Composed of nearly 40 of the most committed ideologues in the House, the Freedom Caucus has a simple mission: to get GOP leadership to deliver on the extreme, anti-government and social-conservative rhetoric that nearly all Republicans spout to get elected.

Boehner and McCarthy Reap What They Sowed

The chaotic House GOP leadership battle—if it can be called a battle, when virtually no one wants to be leader—is normally blamed on fractious right-wing extremists in the so-called “Freedom Caucus.” But when House Speaker John Boehner and his would-have-been successor Kevin McCarthy wonder who’s to blame for their troubles, they should start by looking in the mirror.

Since Boehner came to power in 2011, his leadership team has encouraged the far right in its crusade against government, governing, and compromise. They’ve fostered the extremists’ delusions that they can do things they simply can’t, with a Democrat in the White House—repeal Obamacare, defund Planned Parenthood, hold the debt ceiling hostage to force huge budget cuts.

Boehner's Departure Won't Make Congress Better, But It Could Make It Worse

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner may be able to leave office on a high note after meeting the pope and potentially averting another government shutdown. But his abrupt departure has many on Capitol Hill fearing it will leave Congress an even worse, more gridlocked institution.

“I'm ... not going to sit around here and do nothing for the next 30 days,” Boehner told reporters Friday. “I plan on getting in as much as I can before I exit.”

John Boehner Says Iran Deal 'Blows My Mind'

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's Iran nuclear deal "blows" House Speaker John Boehner's mind, the Ohio Republican declared Thursday, vowing to do everything he can to scuttle the historic agreement.

"Given everything I've seen so far, this is a bad deal. It paves the way for a nuclear Iran," Boehner told reporters at his weekly Capitol Hill news conference.

John Boehner’s Sorry Spectacle

WASHINGTON—House Speaker John Boehner needs to decide whether he wants to be remembered as an effective leader or a befuddled hack. So far, I’m afraid, it’s the latter.

Boehner’s performance last week was a series of comic pratfalls, culminating Friday in a stinging rebuke from the House Republicans he ostensibly leads. Boehner wasn’t asking for much: three weeks of funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which was hours from shutting down. He came away, humiliated, with just seven days’ worth of operating money for the agency charged with keeping Americans safe from terrorist attacks.

Boehner Makes Republicans 'Tools and Dupes' of Netanyahu's Election Campaign

One of the defining precepts of the American Republic from its earliest days to today has been that the president of the United States represents the country in its dealings with the world. It is a view which the Supreme Court unambiguously endorsed in 1936 in United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp:

"In this vast external realm, with its important, complicated, delicate and manifold problems, the President alone has the power to speak or listen as a representative of the nation. He makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate; but he alone negotiates. Into the field of negotiation the Senate cannot intrude, and Congress itself is powerless to invade it. As Marshall said in his great argument of March 7, 1800, in the House of Representatives, 'The President is the sole organ of the nation in its external relations, and its sole representative with foreign nations.'"

John Boehner Defends Benjamin Netanyahu Speech

(Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Thursday challenged an assertion by the Obama administration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming speech to Congress about Iran's nuclear program would be destructive to U.S.-Israeli relations.

"The president's national security advisor says it's destructive for the prime minister of Israel to address the United States Congress. I couldn't disagree more," Boehner said at his weekly news conference.

"The American people and both parties in Congress have always stood with Israel and nothing, and no one, could get in the way," the Republican leader said.

The GOP’s Freudian Moment

After he won reelection last November, soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made two sets of comments reflecting the dueling impulses of the Republican Mind. Freud fans might refer to the superego, aka the conscience, and the id.

The Kentucky Republican got the most attention for gracious words to reporters the day after the election. “When the American people choose divided government, I don’t think it means they don’t want us to do anything,” he said, promising no government shutdowns and debt-ceiling disasters on his watch. “I think it means they want us to look for areas of agreement.”

Boehner Defends Netanyahu Invite, Blames DHS Standoff On Senate Democrats

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) still isn't ruling out the possibility of a shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security.

Boehner said Sunday on Fox News that he was "certainly" willing to let the funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapse, and that Senate Democrats would be to blame if a deal wasn't reached.

A House bill that would fund the department until the end of the current budget year has been blocked by Senate Democrats because it would also limit President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration. Many Republicans, meanwhile, say they won't support a funding bill that doesn't include those limits.

John Boehner Warns Obama Will 'Burn Himself'

WASHINGTON -- Fresh off an overwhelming victory in the midterm elections and sitting on an even larger majority in the House of Representatives, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was anything but conciliatory Thursday, chastising President Barack Obama for "playing with matches" and pledging to challenge the administration on multiple fronts.

Speaking to reporters in his first news conference since the GOP won control of the Senate and added at least a dozen seats in the House, Boehner vowed to hold more votes to repeal Obamacare and challenge existing regulations. He also promised a tough response if Obama tries to do anything on his own.

Boehner: 'I'd Bring The Congress Back' If Obama Asks For War Authorization

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday that he would call the House back into session if President Barack Obama asked for war authorization for the military campaign against the Islamic State, also called ISIS.

"I'd bring the Congress back," Boehner said on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos.

The House and Senate are currently in recess, with lawmakers campaigning for the midterm elections. Some members of Congress have called it irresponsible to be on recess instead of debating the conflict as the president's military efforts against the Islamic State escalate, though others have shown little appetite for the debate.

John Boehner And House GOP Tax Guru Profited From Offshore Tax Dodge

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) personally profited from a corporate tax loophole that they have opposed closing, according to Bloomberg.

Boehner and Camp announced that they were selling their stock in Dublin-based Covidien shortly after the American medical technology company Medtronic agreed to acquire it. The merger would allow Medtronic to move its formal headquarters overseas to reduce its tax bill.

John Boehner On 113th Congress Being Least Productive Ever: 'We've Done Our Work'

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday dismissed the idea that this Congress is the least productive in history and said the House has done its job this year.

"The House has continued to listen to the American people and to focus on their concerns," Boehner told reporters. "Whether it's the economy, whether it's jobs, whether it's protecting the American people from Obamacare -- we've done our work."

Boehner said if anyone's to blame for congressional inaction, it's the Senate. He cited the fact that the House has passed more than half of the annual appropriations bills and the Senate hasn't passed any of them.

Obama Pins Shutdown Blame On John Boehner

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama laid the blame for the government's partial shutdown at the feet of House Speaker John Boehner, escalating a government-shutdown confrontation that was leading headlong into a potentially more damaging clash over the nation's borrowing authority.

Speaking at a construction company in Washington's Maryland suburbs Thursday, Obama cast Boehner as a captive of a small band of conservative Republicans who want to extract concessions in exchange for passing a short term spending bill that would restart the partially shuttered government.

Boehner Basks In Brief Glory As Doomed Budget Passes House

To a newcomer, the hearty ovation might have suggested that John Boehner was the Republican Party’s conquering hero.

When Boehner strolled Friday into the ornate Rayburn Room on the second floor of the Capitol, he found a triumphant tableau: his entire conference, hooting and cheering under the crystal chandeliers, packed against walnut walls the color of the speaker’s skin. Boehner took his place at the center under a painting of George Washington, as GOP whip Kevin McCarthy heralded the day’s “bipartisan” achievement.

John Boehner Backs Obama's Call For Military Action In Syria

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced on Tuesday that he would support President Barack Obama's call for action in Syria, and urged his colleagues to do so as well.

"I'm going to support the president's call for action. I believe my colleagues should support this call for action," Boehner said after a meeting with Obama and congressional leaders. "We have enemies around the world that need to understand that we're not going to tolerate this type of behavior."

Groundswell: A Secret Tape Reveals How It Lobbied Boehner and Issa on Benghazi

As Mother Jones revealed last week, Groundswell, the hush-hush right-wing strategy group partly led by Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, wanted to hype the Benghazi tragedy into a full-fledged scandal for the Obama administration, as part of its "30 front war" on the president and progressives. A secret audio tape of one of Groundswell's weekly meetings shows that prominent members of the group pressed House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the chair of the House oversight committee, to expand the Benghazi investigation and make this supposed scandal a top-priority for congressional Republicans. This recording indicates Groundswell's mission extends beyond message coordination to scandal-stoking.

Boehner: Congress 'Ought To Be Judged On How Many Laws We Repeal'

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner says Congress "ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal."

The Ohio Republican makes the comments on an interview aired Sunday on CBS "Face the Nation." He was responding to a question about how little Congress is doing these days.

Boehner says Congress "should not be judged by how many new laws we create."

He says the U.S. has "more laws than the administration could ever enforce."

Boehner says that view may be unpopular because this country has a divided government. Boehner says he and his allies in Congress are fighting for what they believe in. And he adds, "Sometimes the American people don't like this mess."

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.com
Author: AP

John Boehner: Edward Snowden Is A 'Traitor'

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden a "traitor" in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" Tuesday.

"He's a traitor," he said. "The president outlined last week that these were important national security programs to help keep Americans safe and give us tools to fight the terrorist threat that we face."

"The disclosure of this information puts Americans at risk. It shows our adversaries what our capabilities are. And it's a giant violation of the law," he said.