Lame duck House Speaker John Boehner turned his back on hardline conservatives and caved to a budget deal with the White House just before midnight Monday.
The deal allows America to go even deeper into debt, suspending the current $18.1 trillion debt limit through March 2017, and is intended to take conservative pressure off new House speaker Paul Ryan before he takes office.
Boehner’s plan is for members to vote on the deal Wednesday.
The budget pact, in concert with a must-pass increase in the federal borrowing limit, would solve the thorniest issues awaiting Ryan, who is set to be elected speaker on Thursday.
The deal would also take budget showdowns and government shutdown fights off the table until after the 2016 presidential election.
The emerging framework would give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies two years of budget relief of $80 billion.
A chief selling point for GOP leaders is that the alternative is chaos and a stand-alone debt limit increase that might be forced on Republicans. But conservatives in the conference who drove Boehner to resign were not ready to fall in line.
“This is again just the umpteenth time that you have this big, big, huge deal that’ll last for two years and we were told nothing about it,” said Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana.
“I’m not excited about it at all,” said Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz. “A two-year budget deal that raises the debt ceiling for basically the entire term of this presidency.”
The budget side of the deal is aimed at undoing automatic spending cuts which are a byproduct of a 2011 budget and debt deal and the failure of Washington to subsequently tackle the government’s fiscal woes. GOP defense hawks are a driving force, intent on reversing the automatic cuts and getting more money for the military.
The tentative pact anticipates designating further increases for the Pentagon as emergency war funds that can be made exempt from budget caps. Offsetting spending cuts that would pay for domestic spending increases included curbs on certain Medicare payments for outpatient services provided by hospitals and an extension of a 2-percentage-point cut in Medicare payments to doctors through the end of a 10-year budget.
There’s also a drawdown from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, reforms to crop insurance, and savings reaped from a Justice Department funds for crime victims and involving assets seized from criminals.
Negotiators looked to address two other key issues as well: a shortfall looming next year in Social Security payments to the disabled and a large increase for many retirees in Medicare premiums and deductibles for doctors’ visits and other outpatient care.
The deal, which would apply to the 2016-17 budget years, resembles a pact that Ryan himself put together two years ago in concert with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., that eased automatic spending cuts for the 2014-15 budget years. A lot of conservatives disliked that measure.
Just days are left for the deal to come together before Ryan is elected Thursday to replace Boehner, R-Ohio, who is leaving Congress under pressure from conservative lawmakers angered by his history of seeking compromise and Democratic votes on issues like the budget.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
What a bunch of traitors, Boehner being the top one~
Boehner , now wants to get even with those who wanted him ousted.
Bonehead, this is the very reason we no longer wanted you to be speaker. You act much more like a democrat than a republican.
Is this just one last jab at us as you go home to get plastered? Good riddance loser.
At-a-boy; kodos Richard!
Chuck
This “Bonner” the king of Jackasses keeps proving why he is the real jackass!!!!
My comment of Jackass is the symbol ( the Donkey ) of the Democrat Party
I agree with that But every since Boehner got voted in last He has Been In Obamas pocket
as both our OR. Senators –Money in the palms of their Hands. they go in with nothing & all come out as millionaires !!! TERM LIMITS is what we need
YOU ARE SO RIGHT!! I AM MADDER THAN A HORNET!!
My husband and I are Retired. We both PAID INTO MEDICARE – it is NOT an ENTITLEMENT PRGRAM!!! People it is NOT MEDICAID – OKAY?? The same goes for SOCIAL SECURITY!! WE PAID INTO IT!! UNLIKE THE ILLEGALS!! Now you are NOT giving us raises, you are TAKING away from us – such as our Deductibles will be Higher, somethings won’t be covered at all, etc. AND you BI-PARTISAN FAT CATS ON THE HILL WILL GIVE YOURSELVES A RAISE!! I CAN’T WAIT FOR THAT ANNOUNCEMENT!! NOW DO YOU KNOW WHY THE PEOPLE ARE SICK AND TIRED OF ALL OF YOU!! WE’D RATHER VOTE FOR TRUMP, CARSON AND ANY ONE OUTSIDE OF THE GOVERNMENT SYSTEM – YOU ARE ALL ONLY LOOKING OUT FOR YOURSELVES!!!
Sick of all these clowns wide open borders Go Trump
Why is he still the house speaker? Ryan is a Rino also We are simply trading one Rino for another. look at his voting record, not what he says.
Very true !! Ryan is another wimp, like most of the Republicans. Nothing but a bunch of Democrats in disguise.
Boehner has been a big a$$et to the Dumb- o- Rats…All he has done is to take over where Piglosi and Dirty Harry left off….And I seriously doubt that Paul Ryan will be much different…..CRUZ/ TRUMP/CARSON, our last chance for hope and change…Gitter done!
As long as we’re going this far, can Boehner also increase all of our credit limits – in such a way that we also are not required to pay back the institutions which issued our cards? I mean, we’re all about fairness and this is only fair.
Its good to get the budget deal out of the way but in that they dam well better take care of our veterans and stop medicare part B premium for going up 50 percent and if that is not covered we are really getting it where the sun dont shine
I watched the biggoted harpies on the View this morning as they went off on Trump for anything they could think of. If they only were ABLE to understand any of what is happening in this saga of kiss the POTUS butt, we might have a more informed public. What happened to defunding planned parenthood as part of the budget deal..??.Killed by threat of POTUS veto? what spineless jellyfish in charge of national pocketbook.Or, .Are ALL politicians baby killing ghouls? Lying is one thing, supporting an organization and Obama, with taxpayers money, that parts out babies to help pass a budget deal is wickedness beyond belief. Bastzzds. Liberal media is no better.
What our country needs is someone that has had to budget and know what is more important than something else. I think we have lost our priorities. Someone that can’t afford mansions and all the other stuff. When you are spending other peoples money you don’t have to worry. If we could get back to electing people that can’t out spend and have millions to flaunt we would get some one that will work for us not for the ones that line the pocket.
It’s stupid to sell off the strategic oil reserves when petroleum prices are low. Our nation bought the oil at a higher price than it will sell for. This is another sign of the utter stupidity which is rampant in Washington.
These deals are going to destroy our nation. At some point the mountains of money printing and debt are going to have to be dealt with. Many of these politicians will be off living a great retirement when the rest of us gets stuck with the bill for their reckless spending. In fact, many of our retirement plans are teetering on financial solvency because the Federal Reserve has dropped the interest rate to near zero to keep the federal government from insolvency. If the government had to pay a higher interest rate on the federal debt interest payments would soon consume every dollar of tax revenue.
Put the brakes on military spending, and allow more spending on the items that will put money in the middle class pockets, to help the economy grow, and start putting people back to work. We seem to forget, government is “by the people and for the people”. Not putting all our money in the top 1% pockets. If we cut all tax write-offs, and have a flat tax of 15% for every dollar earned, the deposit will take care of itself. We also need to pass “two term limits with no gov pension” for both Congress and Senate, plus all laws passed include Congressmen and Senators also. This is what the founders of our country framed the constitution on. We need to step back and become “America” again.
The Fair Tax would be better. It is the only tax where the poor pay no tax and the illegals do.
The fair tax? The only fair tax is where everyone pays the same percentage. No one can afford all the taxes heaped on them, but everyone should have skin in the game. Otherwise, we maintain a divided nation..and face it, our nation is divided. Whether on purpose or not, our nation is divided by our tax code, where one half votes “go ahead and pass that bill’ since I won’t have today for it”‘ while the other half votes “no, don’t pass that bill, I don’t want to pay for it”.
I think we should all vote 1. Is this a good bill, and. 2. Is the bill good enough that I myself am willing to pay for it?
From Day one John Boehner has behaved as if a Chicago Thug had a gun to his head.
His retirement is looking like a too little to late action to avoid accountability.
Can’t be true….They don’t have guns in Chicago (sarc.)
And it will not change if Paul Ryan gets in there. He will be a clone of Boehner. We have got to get someone better in there. Please people, we all need to flood our representatives emails and phones to stop Paul Ryan from getting in. We STILL can make a difference if we make it loud enough.
Hillary for prison 2016 Obama her cell mate
Another day and the same old sh#t from our rEPUBLICAN pals!!!!