Desperate to make a deal, Speaker Boehner met secretly with the president on Sunday. Then the president called for a summit at the White House on Thursday. The Republicans don’t want to get lectured and they hope the president will take several valiums. Meanwhile, Boehner seems to be painting himself into a corner.
“We’re not dealing just with talking points about corporate jets or other ‘loopholes.’ The legislation the President has asked for — which would increase taxes on small businesses and destroy more American jobs — cannot pass the House, as I have stated repeatedly,” Boehner said in a statement. “I’m happy to discuss these issues at the White House, but such discussions will be fruitless until the President recognizes economic and legislative reality.”
Boehner will have to capitulate. It’s his responsibility to pass something that the Senate Democrats will endorse and that the president will sign. That’s his job. Unless he wants the U.S. to default on its debts, he has no choice.
