Back in January, House Speaker John Boehner was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article claiming Republicans have leverage in the fiscal showdown fight because they're willing to use sequester cuts to extract massive concessions in the form of cuts to vital lifelines, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
As soon as the Hurricane Sandy relief bill that the U.S. Senate passed Monday night lands on President Obama’s desk, he says he will sign it. But he notes that legislation to help families and communities recover from the devastating November hurricane is long overdue.
For the families working to put their lives back together, every day without relief is one day too many.
The U.S. House of Representatives, led by Speaker John Boehner and his Republican allies, voted to put off the debt ceiling fight until May 18 .
This is good news—no doubt about it—and it shows the power of working people when they make their voices heard. But don’t think for a second that Republicans have given up trying to tank the economy to get their way. Or trying to cut Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare benefits. Or trying to cut taxes for Wall Street and rich people. Because they haven’t and they won’t. This fight is still on.
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) seemingly have rallied enough of their House allies to push the battle over causing a U.S. government default down the road , with a temporary three-month extension of the government's borrowing authority (or "debt ceiling"). But House Republicans have not changed their ransom demands. They've simply chosen a different hostage. For now.
The U.S. House on Tuesday night finally passed the major Hurricane Sandy relief bill to help hundreds of thousands of East Coast families and communities recover and rebuild from the massive November storm. But House Speaker John Boehner’s (R) nearly monthlong delay in holding the vote continues to stall the much-needed help as the out-of-session Senate will not be able to vote on the bill until next week.
President Obama this weekend signed the patchwork aid bill that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) put before the new Congress only after he was eviscerated by members of his own party and Hurricane Sandy victims for blocking a comprehensive hurricane relief package on the last day of the 112th Congress.
Yesterday, we told you House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) broke his promise to hold a vote on a desperately needed relief package for the victims and communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy more than two months after the storm. After a massive and angry outcry—especially from members of his own party who called his vote squelching a “cruel stab in the back”—Boehner announced he would bring a hurricane aid bill to the floor Friday.
But that patchwork package falls far short of the help Sandy’s victims need.
The hundreds of thousands of East Coast residents—especially in New York and New Jersey—who continue to feel the sting of Hurricane Sandy more than two months after the storm, now are "feeling the sting of a House Republican slap to the face after Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) backed out of a promise to vote on an emergency aid package for hurricane victims," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) called Boehner’s decision to cancel the vote “a cruel knife in the back.”
Sign the New York State AFL-CIO petition to pass Hurricane Sandy relief.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following statement on House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) “Plan B” failure and the latest fiscal developments:
Speaker Boehner’s failure last night should be seen as one thing: A reset button to listen to the will of the American people. The slate is clean and we call on the President to come forward with an offer that reflects the reasons he won the election. Across the country working people continue to demand no tax cuts for the richest two percent and no benefit cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. At this point, cuts to the Social Security COLA to pay for more tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent should be off the table. The President and Congress have no obligation to radical Republicans who have no ground to stand on. What they do have is the backing of millions of hardworking women and men tired of being held hostage by far right-wing Republicans who clearly have little interest in governing.
U PDATE: With a large number of House Republicans refusing to back asking millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share in taxes, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) pulled his “Plan B.” from the floor last night and adjourned the House. No negotiations between Republicans and the Obama White House on the expiring middle class tax cuts and automatic spending cuts set to go into effect Jan. 1 are scheduled. But a White House spokesman said, “The president will work with Congress to get this done, and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy.”
If House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) “really wanted to address the true causes of our long-term budget imbalance, the last thing he would ask Congress to do is pass more wasteful tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans,” AFL-CIO Government Affairs Director Bill Samuel said in a letter to House members today.
It’s been four years since low-wage workers got a raise. Sign the petition to tell Congress it’s time to raise the minimum wage.
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