Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:43 pm
After John Boehner called for both Hillary Clinton and President Obama to do his job for him, a fed up White House blasted the Speaker of the House by calling him desperate, and telling him to do his job.
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Press Secretary Josh Earnest responded to Boehner’s call for Hillary Clinton to save the bill for fast tracking TPP by saying:
We saw Republicans including the Speaker of the House in the context of the last election make a really strong case about why Republicans should retain the majority in the House of Representatives so that they could advance their agenda and priorities including trying to advance trade legislation. And now here we are three or four months into the newly strengthened House Republican majority, and you have the Speaker of the House suggesting that he doesn’t just need the help of the current Democratic president to help him get this legislation through his body. He now is suggesting that candidates for president in the other party need to help him do his job. I think in the mind of the president, it’s the responsibility the Speaker of the House to do his job and pull together the votes he needs to advance his agenda.
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But ultimately, it seems pretty early for a desperate act like that, to suggest you need a candidate for office from the other party to help you advance your agenda when you’ve got the majority in the House of Representatives.
The White House ran out patience with Boehner years ago. Speaker Boehner has become so inept that the help of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi is no longer enough. Boehner now requires the top two Democrats in the country riding to his rescue in order for the body that he leads to pass anything substantial.
On the Senate side, Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has all but declared war on the bill to give President Obama fast track authority on TPP. Reid is an opponent of the deal, and John Boehner admitted last week that he didn’t have the votes to pass the bill.
Press Secretary Josh Earnest was talking about TPP, but years of White House frustration with Boehner’s inept leadership of the House appears to be boiling over. Fast track for TPP is increasing looking like it is dead, and the two lessons that are being reaffirmed are nothing consequential is going to get through Congress without Democratic support and John Boehner might be the worst Speaker of the House in history.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
