Politicsfiscal-cliff-2012john-boehner-fiscal-cliffDebt Ceiling

John Boehner's Reported Fiscal Cliff Concessions Attacked By Club For Growth, Heritage Action

Conservative Groups Attack John Boehner Over Reported Fiscal Cliff Concessions
By 

Politics reporter, The Huffington Post

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House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, who conferred with President Barack Obama by phone yesterday, listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, following a closed-door meeting with the GOP caucu. Boehner and the other House Republican leaders are calling for Obama to come up with plan they can accept for spending cuts and tax revenue to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax hikes and budget reductions. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio.) drew sharp criticism from conservative groups Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America on Monday over reports that he agreed to make concessions to President Barack Obama on the debt ceiling and tax rates in ongoing negotiations to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that Boehner offered to take any fight over raising the debt ceiling limit off the table for one year. The news came on the heels of another report stating that the Ohio Republican also proposed a tax rate hike on those earning more than $1 million a year.

“First Speaker Boehner offered to raise tax rates after promising not to, and now he’s offering to raise the debt ceiling. Raising tax rates is anti-growth, and raising the debt ceiling is pro-government growth -– and this is the Republican position?” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola in a statement issued on Monday. “Raising the debt ceiling would give away one of the best tools the Republicans have in their arsenal to force real reform.”

“Raising the debt limit again simply kicks the can down the road,” he added. “Instead of raising the debt ceiling, the Republicans should use it to force President Obama and the Democrats to accept structural reforms to entitlements, which are the drivers of our debt.”

Separately, Heritage Action Communications Director Dan Holler wrote that the Boehner proposal, as detailed in reports, “represents a clear path toward surrender on conservative principles.”

“Rather than fighting for real reforms that would actually solve the problem, GOP negotiators seem intent on negotiating with themselves in hopes of striking a grand bargain that will ultimately fail, as so many others have before,” Holler said.

According to the AP, Boehner’s offer included $1 trillion in higher tax revenue over 10 years. His proposal to raise taxes on incomes over $1 million and a one-year extension of the nation’s borrowing limit included the requirement that the president accept $1 trillion in spending cuts.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel immediately pushed back against any reported concessions on Sunday. “Our position has not changed,” Steel said in a statement. “Any debt limit increase would require cuts and reforms of a greater amount.”

The country could reach its $16.4 trillion debt limit by early February, posing the threat of a government shutdown. The president has requested the power to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling -- though Republicans have rejected this idea and signaled a willingness to engage in another debt limit showdown.

Both the Club for Growth and Heritage Action play influential roles in the Republican caucus. Their reactions only add to the mounting pressure on Boehner from both sides as he seeks an agreement with the president before the looming Dec. 31 deadline, when automatic spending cuts and across-the-board tax-rate increases are set to kick in.

Boehner also met with Obama for 45 minutes on Monday, but details of their meeting were not disclosed.

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Before You Go

Do These Things, Don't Cut Entitlements
Prison Reform(01 of10)
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The U.S. incarcerates its citizens at a rate roughly five times higher than the global average. We have about 5 percent of the world's population, but 25 percent of its prisoners, according to The Economist,. This status quo costs our local, state and federal governments a combined $68 billion a year -- all of which becomes a federal problem during recessions, when states look to Washington for fiscal relief. Over the standard 10-year budget window used in Congress, that's a $680 billion hit to the deficit.Solving longstanding prison problems -- releasing elderly convicts unlikely to commit crimes, offering treatment or counseling as an alternative to prison for non-violent offenders, slightly shortening the sentences of well-behaved inmates, and substituting probation for more jail-time -- would do wonders for government spending. (credit:AP)
End Of The Drug War(02 of10)
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Print More Money(06 of10)
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Immigration: Less Detention, More Ankle Bracelets(08 of10)
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