House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) isn't happy that President Barack Obama is willing to compromise with the Russian leader, but won't negotiate with the GOP back home.
A video posted to Boehner's YouTube account asks, "Why is the Obama Administration willing to negotiate with Putin on Syria... But not with Congress to address Washington's spending problem?"
The video, called "Negotiations," highlights the numerous times Obama has said he will not negotiate with Republicans on the debt ceiling, and the times he has touted his efforts to negotiate with Putin on addressing Syria. (Though, to be fair, it's doubtful that Obama would negotiate with Putin over lifting the debt limit.) Boehner's blog criticizes Obama for refusing to use Congress to find a bipartisan solution to the debt:
After adding more than $6 trillion to the national debt, the president now says he won’t work in a bipartisan way to address our spending problem and strengthen our economy.
But while the White House is stiff-arming Congress and the American people over needed spending cuts and reforms, there’s somebody out there that the Obama administration is eager to work with ...
The video comes just after Boehner promised to push a bill to defund Obamacare or shut down the government as a budget September 30 deadline looms.
"We're going to continue to do everything we can to repeal the president's failed health care law," Boehner said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) lamented the move by House Republicans, implying that they're actively working toward a government shutdown.
"We're now waiting to see what the House of Representatives is going to do, how absurd it's going to be, what they're going to send us," Reid said Wednesday. "We know it's going to be something really strange and weird because the speaker has to do everything he can to mold a piece of legislation that will meet the needs of the tea party -- the anarchists -- and I say that without any equivocation. They do not want government to work on any level."
Obama is expected to veto any bill that defunds his signature legislation.
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