Tag: sellout

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Obama and Ryan Plot their next moves together

paul ryan

Obama and Ryan, Long at Odds, Said to Meet as Soon as Next Week
Margaret Talev
Angela Greiling Keane
January 22, 2016 — 3:02 PM EST

President Barack Obama and House Speaker Paul Ryan may sit down together at the White House for a long-anticipated meeting as soon as next week, a person familiar with their plans said.

The blizzard bearing down on Washington may force them to postpone if the capital remains shut down at the start of next week.

The two men haven’t spent significant time together since Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, was sworn in as speaker in October. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said last week that the president hoped that they would have a chance to talk face-to-face “relatively soon.” The person who said the meeting may happen next week asked for anonymity because the timing hasn’t been settled.

It wasn’t clear whether other congressional leaders would take part. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Doug Andres, a spokesman for Ryan, said that “nothing is currently scheduled.” Jen Friedman, deputy White House press secretary, declined to comment.

Obama, 54, and Ryan, 45, have enough in common personally and in some policy areas for the foundation of a relationship, if either of them desired one. They also have enough accrued tension to dissuade either from bothering in Obama’s final year in office.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-01-22/obama-and-ryan-long-at-odds-said-to-meet-as-soon-as-next-week

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Rush : disband the Republican Party, and let the Democrats run it, because that’s what’s happening anyway.

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GOP Sells America Down the River
December 17, 2015

RUSH: The country was just sold down the river again by your very Republican Party.

I have a headline here from the Washington Times: “White House Declares Total Victory Over GOP in Budget Battle.” That headline’s a misnomer. There was never a battle. None of this was opposed. The Republican Party didn’t stand up to any of it, and the die has been cast for a long time on this. I know many of you are dispirited, depressed, angry, combination of all of that. But, folks, there was no other way this could go. Because two years ago when the Republican Party declared they would never do anything that would shut down the government and they would not impeach Obama, there were no obstacles in Obama’s way and there were no obstacles in the way of the Democrat Party.

When you surrender the power of the purse — and that’s the primary power the House of Representatives has. Not a penny of money can be spent in this country by this government without the House of Representatives authorizing it. Obama can spend all he wants, but if the House doesn’t give him the mechanism, he can’t spend any of it. But the Republicans squandered that. They gave up the power of the purse. The reason they did that is because for some inexplicable reason, they are literally paranoid and scared to death of even being accused of doing something that would shut down the government.

So to avoid even the accusation that they were going to or would ever even think of shutting down the government, they signaled that whatever Obama wanted to spend, he would get, because they figured that had less damage to them politically than the allegation that they were shutting down the government. So, very simply, ever since the Republican Party became the party of keeping the government open at all costs, we get bills like this. There’s simply no stopping the Democrats. There’s no mechanism. Every constitutional mechanism found in the power of the purse, Separation of Powers, the Republican Party years ago gave it away, in total fear of the media.

Now, there’s also a factor that needs to be mentioned, too, and that is that many Republican donors want every bit of this money spent, and they have donated voluminously to key Republicans in order to get the money spent. So it’s not all Republican fears. It’s not all Republican caving. A lot of it is Republican fealty and loyalty to some of their donors. Some people today looking at this, and this is 2,009 pages. It’s said to be a spending bill. Among the things that it does, it fully funds Obamacare.

https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/12/17/gop_sells_america_down_the_river

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Is O’Toole selling Out?

Senator_Kevin_OToole_theridgewoodblog

Sweeney, O’Toole Discuss Bipartisanship in Newark

It seems that South Jersey-based Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) is continuing his charm offensive in the northern part of the state as he continues to angle for a likely 2017 gubernatorial run. Today, Sweeney joined Republican Senator Kevin O’Toole (R-40) for an event at Newark’s North Ward Center to honor O’Toole for his dedication to the mission of the center: to help underserved populations. Alyana Alfaro, PolitickerNJ Read more

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Dems want to empower Boehner

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Dems want to empower Boehner
By Mike Lillis – 03/22/15 06:00 AM EDT

House Democrats fighting for leverage in the GOP Congress are hoping they can empower an unlikely ally: Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Democrats are outnumbered by more than 50 members – and have almost no power to bring bills to the floor.

But they see Boehner as a willing compromiser on must-pass legislation like funding the government and raising the debt ceiling – once the Speaker can convince his troops that the partisan route endorsed by his conservative wing has been denied.

By banding together in veto-sustaining majorities against conservative proposals demanded by Boehner’s right flank, Democrats hope to both sink those GOP measures and grease the skids for more moderate compromises.

“[The Republicans] have a majority party that’s deeply divided,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the Democratic whip, said Thursday from his office in the Capitol.

“And … what we’ve learned is if we stick together – and we have been sticking together, we’ve been very unified – that it can empower Speaker Boehner at some point in time to say, ‘Look, I tried every which way I can think of to accomplish the objectives that our caucus wants to do. But if I can’t accomplish those, I will not allow the government to shut down, the debt limit to be not extended, or other things that are harmful to the country,’” Hoyer said.

Those dynamics were on full display in the recent fight over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/236475-dems-want-to-empower-boehner