john-boehner

Brief Debt-Limit Hike Means the GOP Will Ruin Your Thanksgiving

Cord Jefferson · 10/10/13 03:12PM

House Republicans suggested interest in a short-term debt limit increase today in a move that would temporarily prevent the United States from defaulting. Hooray! Of course this means nothing for the government shutdown, and now you can look forward to more pathetic debt-limit brinkmanship taking place right around the holidays. God kill us, everyone.

Cord Jefferson · 10/08/13 06:16PM

House Speaker John Boehner has responded to President Obama's speech earlier today by characterizing it as a demand for "unconditional surrender" by Republicans. Meanwhile, one global market-research firm says the shutdown is costing the American economy $160 million per workday.

Obama: "We Can't Make Extortion Routine as Part of Our Democracy"

Cord Jefferson · 10/08/13 04:27PM

In a shutdown statement followed by a press conference this afternoon, President Obama said much of the same things about America's government standstill that he's been saying since last week: This is a situation caused by a handful of recalcitrant GOP jackasses who are unwilling to talk reasonably about how to end this mess. It is impossible to overstate this fact.

Lacey Donohue · 10/06/13 11:13PM

On ABC's This Week, House Speaker John Boehner warned that the nation is headed for default if President Obama doesn't start negotiating with Republicans soon. And if Obama does want to negotiate? “He knows what my phone number is," said Boehner. "All he has to do is call.”

Lacey Donohue · 10/02/13 06:25PM

President Obama just finished a 90-minute meeting with congressional leaders at the White House. After the meeting, House Speaker John Boehner told reporters that Obama "will not negotiate." And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters that Boehner "cannot take yes for an answer.”

How to Be John Boehner’s Bitch: The Official Manual

J.K. Trotter · 08/21/13 01:07PM

Washington, D.C. interns — in particular, congressional interns — tend to be embryonic versions of the monsters they serve: rich, white, and drunk on even the tiniest modicum of actual power. How do they get that way? In part by carefully attending to the advice contained in the “2013 Intern Manual” distributed to the unpaid peons of House Speaker John Boehner, the 12-term Republican who superintends the lower chamber’s extreme right wing. Left behind at a recent D.C. house party by a sauced Hill staffer, the manual shows how even the lowest employees lubricate the capital’s gilded political machine.

Sequestration Arrives as Boehner Cuts Off Negotiations

Maggie Lange · 03/01/13 09:15AM

Speaker of the House John Boehner has changed his mind. After months spent engaged in talks with President Obama in an attempt to avoid budget-slashing government sequestration—which hits today!—he now believes that no negotiation is probably the best policy.

Your Guide to the Trillion-Dollar Platinum Coin That Obama Can Mint to Save the World

Max Read · 01/07/13 01:30PM

Today, New York Times columnist and Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman wrote that President Obama should be "absolutely" prepared to mint a one trillion dollar platinum coin and use it to pay the government's bills. It wasn't a typo: a lot of people are discussing the trillion-dollar coin as a way to avoid a fight over the debt ceiling. But what is it? And why? And whose face will be on it? Here's our guide.

Robert Kessler · 01/03/13 01:35PM

House Republicans have re-elected Rep. John Boehner as the Speaker of the House, once again.

Republicans Start to Give Up as Obama Clowns Them on Meet The Press

MTanzer · 12/30/12 11:11AM

President Obama appeared on Meet The Press this morning to talk about the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations. His 30 minute conversation with host David Gregory was pretty cordial and never really got heated at any point. Those looking for Obama to show anger at Republicans were probably disappointed, but he dug into them at several moments for their inability to take any of the deals that he offered over the past month.

The Real Consequences of the Fiscal Cliff

Mallory Ortberg · 12/29/12 12:25PM

The fiscal cliff is imminent. We are hurtling, not to mention barreling, toward it. Also, it's looming. Every news organization has been churning out folksy little cartoons explaining the situation at the rate of thousands a day since August. There have also been a lot of Wile E. Coyote jokes, and for that alone we deserve as a people to be bound hand and foot and cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.