How President Obama Lost His Shirt to John Boehner

By Ralph Benko – In retrospect, at the Battle at Fiscal Cliff, the House Speaker John Boehner took President Obama to the cleaners. He did it suavely, without histrionics.

Boehner, last week, again bested Obama by pushing the debt ceiling fight back to May. This is a double whammy by Boehner. According to specialists, by structuring the law to allow new borrowing only to the extent of obligations “outstanding on May 19, 2013, exceeds the face amount of such obligations outstanding on the date of the enactment of this Act” Boehner effectively instituted a spending freeze. more> http://tinyurl.com/bh5lsl4

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• Has Boehner Snuck a Spending Freeze into the Recent Debt Ceiling Bill? (economicpolicyjournal.com)
• Michelle Obama gives Boehner eye-roll as he jokes with president (politics.blogs.foxnews.com)

Bigger fights loom after “fiscal cliff” deal

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By Thomas Ferraro and John Whitesides – President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans face even bigger budget battles in the next two months after a hard-fought “fiscal cliff” deal narrowly averted devastating tax increases and spending cuts.

But it set up potentially bruising showdowns over the next two months on spending cuts and an increase in the nation’s limit on borrowing. Republicans, angry the fiscal cliff deal did little to curb the federal deficit, promised to use the debt-ceiling debate to win deep spending cuts next time. more> http://tinyurl.com/b9trz5g

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• Bigger fights loom after U.S. ‘fiscal cliff’ deal (business.financialpost.com)
• Bigger fights loom after “fiscal cliff” deal (news.yahoo.com)
• United States avoids calamity in “fiscal cliff” drama (theneteconomy.wordpress.com)
• Markets Surge, New Crisis Looms after Partial ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Deal (voanews.com)
• Bigger fights loom after “fiscal cliff” deal (reuters.com)
• GOP anti-tax policy goes over the cliff (politico.com)
• Congress’s messy fiscal cliff vote sets stage for showdown over debt ceiling (guardian.co.uk)
• Obama signs cliff deal to boost taxes on wealthy (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
• Looking past the fiscal cliff rally, David Randall, Reuters
• Dems bullish on cliff deal, enjoy turmoil among GOP lawmakers, Niall Stanage and Amie Parnes, Hill
• Boehner tells GOP he’s through negotiating one-on-one with Obama, Russell Berman, Hill
• For Obama, a Victory That Also Holds Risks, David Leonhardt, NYTimes.com
• Has the ‘fiscal cliff’ fight changed how Washington works? Karen Tumulty and Peter Wallsten, Washington Post
• Parties’ role reversal complicates spending debates, David Lauter, latimes.com
• More At Stake Than Fiscal Cliff, John Zogby, Forbes
• 112th Congress legacy: Unfinished business, Jonathan Allen, POLITICO

How Boehner’s Plan B for the ‘fiscal cliff’ began and fell apart

By Paul Kane, Ed O’Keefe and Lori Montgomery – The failure of a grand bargain was the latest oh-so-close moment for Obama and Boehner, who have been dancing around a deal to cut the deficit for the better part of the past two years. And the collapse of Plan B set a new low in Boehner’s sometimes rocky relationship with a House Republican caucus that has long been uneasy about the speaker’s dealmaking with Obama.

In a statement late Thursday (Dec 20), Boehner said it was now up to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Obama to come up with an agreement — without explaining what role he would play. The speaker ignored reporters’ questions and, at 8:04 p.m., he walked out of the Capitol.

A week earlier, the possibility of a deal seemed as promising as it ever had. more> http://tinyurl.com/bw9zdyf

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• Boehner: a dealmaker and a survivor in tight spot – Washington Examiner (washingtonexaminer.com)
• Boehner: a dealmaker and a survivor in tight spot (sacbee.com)
• “The Republican Winter Carnival”: Will John Boehner’s Speakership Survive Until Plan C? (mykeystrokes.com)
• Obama, Boehner hold hour-long White House meeting (thenewstribune.com)
• Analysis: Boehner has few options in fiscal cliff mess, Richard Cowan, Reuters
• Boehner Cancels Tax Vote in Face of G.O.P. Revolt, Jonathan Weisman, NYTimes.com
• World’s investors stirred, not shaken by U.S. fiscal crisis, Mike Peacock, Reuters

“Fiscal cliff” talks turn sour, Obama threatens veto

By Matt Spetalnick and Mark Felsenthal – Talks to avoid a U.S. fiscal crisis stalled on Wednesday (Dec 19) as President Barack Obama accused opponents of holding a personal grudge against him while the top Republican negotiator called the president “irrational.”

“It is very hard for them to say yes to me,” he told a news conference in the White House. “At some point, you know, they’ve got to take me out of it.”

The rise in tensions threatens to unravel significant progress made over the last week. more> http://tinyurl.com/corv5bl

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• Boehner: White House risks fiscal cliff stalemate (kansascity.com)
• Boehner scrambles for GOP votes to pass ‘Plan B’ tax proposal, Russell Berman, Hill
• Democrats decline to take ‘Plan B’ bait, Bernie Becker and Peter Schroeder, Hill