The
Hill
Boehner
blasts Senate Dems for standoff
By
Russell Berman
12/03/13
Speaker
John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday accused Senate Democrats of holding
up year-end agreements on the farm bill and the budget.
“It
is time for the other chamber to get serious about getting its work
done,” Boehner said after a closed-door meeting of the House
Republican Conference.
The
Speaker said Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
had each made multiple serious offers to their Democratic
counterparts on House-Senate conference committees on the farm bill
and budget, respectively. But in both cases, Boehner said, “we
can’t get Senate Democrats to say 'yes.' ”
A
five-year farm bill and a two-year budget agreement are two of the
major issues that congressional leaders want to resolve before
lawmakers head home for the year.
Ryan
and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) are said to be relatively close on
the contours of an agreement that would replace some of the
sequestration cuts over the next two years. A deal would also
forestall a government shutdown fight early next year.
Murray
spokesman Eli Zupnick replied, "Chairman Murray continues to
work with Chairman Ryan and is hopeful they can reach a bipartisan
budget deal."
Boehner
on Tuesday also defended the House against the “do nothing” label
that Democrats have increasingly sought to affix to Republican
leaders over their inaction on immigration and other priorities that
the Senate has acted on.
Congress
is set to pass the smallest number of laws in recent memory for 2013.
“The
House continues to listen to the American people and to focus on
their concerns,” Boehner said. "Whether it’s the economy;
whether it’s jobs; whether it’s protecting the American people
from ObamaCare, we’ve done our work. But if you look at the number
of bills passed by the House and the paltry number of bills passed by
the Senate, you can see where the problem is...
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the rest of the article at The Hill
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