Reports: Boehner Caves

Forget an elephant — the Republican mascot should be a chicken.

In a desperate move to avoid the fiscal cliff, Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner offered to yield on several important Party stances.

The Tea Party News Network reported late Saturday that Boehner had caved to Democrat demands by offering a tax hike on those making over one million dollars per year in exchange for entitlement reform – a stark violation of the GOP stance to not raise taxes. The deal that was pitched was reported to not include extensions of unemployment benefits and no deal on raising the debt ceiling- a crisis that is coming as we bump against the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling.

Now, according to the Washington Post, the deal pitched to President Obama includes an offer to push the looming fight over the debt ceiling off for an entire year. The Washington Post noted,

“House Speaker John A. Boehner has offered to push any fight over the federal debt limit off for a year, a concession that would deprive Republicans of leverage in the budget battle but is breathing new life into stalled talks over the year-end ‘fiscal cliff”…

Boehner’s offer signals that he expects a big deal with sufficient savings to meet his demand that any debt limit increase be paired dollar for dollar with spending cuts. That would permit him to keep a key vow to his party — and head off a potentially nasty debt-limit fight — at least until the end of next year.”

I’m afraid that’s being kind. It’s like the car salesman signing over the title to the prospective customer and then discussing negotiations. Boehner may be in trouble as conservative leaders in the GOP have expressed outrage at the yellow streak running through the moderate wing of the GOP and as Democrats have been impossibly stubborn in their unwillingness to negotiate- a sure sign that for Democrats, factional dominance is valued beyond that of sound fiscal policies or even avoiding the fiscal cliff.

Laughably, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel stated,

“Our position has not changed. Any debt limit increase would require cuts and reforms of a greater amount.”

This is the latest compromise since the last compromise. And that was the last one before the one before it. The moderate GOP leaders have continually spoken in tough tones, but have been more than willing to cave to liberal demands. To emphasize the absurdity of the situation, as conservative leaders cry out for moderates to show some backbone and to not cave on these important stances, these compromises have been rejected by Obama and other Democratic leaders who seem less interested in cooperation, but more interested in complete unconditional surrender from the GOP.

In 2010, Tea Party candidates swept the House and gained seats in the Senate. Promoting fiscal conservatism works, yet the moderate Republicans seem entirely too willing to fight common sense ideas.