Speaker of the House John Boehner has some options. He can address the American people and admit that he deliberately lied for personal financial gain and to enrich the oil industry that stands to gain selling Canadian oil to Europe if the Keystone XL pipeline is built, or he can save his family the embarrassment and resign immediately. Mr. Boehner can rest assured of two things; if he does not admit to lying and resign immediately, the petition calling for his expulsion or resignation remains active, and this column will be unrelenting in demanding that, for once in his career, he serves all the American people and vanishes from politics as if he never existed. Now that the Securities and Exchange Commission is alerted to TransCanada and Boehner’s lying, it would be incumbent on him to make the right decision before they make it for him. The SEC Mulls An Investigation Calls for John Boehner to Resign

[I]n private, Boehner seems to hold a different view. Politico reports that in a closed-door GOP meeting this morning, Boehner referred to an extension of the payroll tax holiday as “chicken-shit,” saying he wanted to tack on unrelated legislation favored by Republicans to make it palatable:

GOP leadership told its membership at a closed-door meeting Friday morning it would couple with the expiring tax provisions an easing of environmental regulations on boilers, selling broadband spectrum and paving the way for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. […]

Speaker John Boehner referred to the package he’s putting forward as turning “chicken-sh — into chicken salad,” according to people attending the meeting in the Capitol basement Friday morning.

Translated, he’s going to pass President Barack Obama’s preferred tax cut, but he wants some skin from Democrats for it.

So which is it? Does Boehner actually believe in extending the payroll tax holiday for the middle class, or is that “chicken-shit”? An extension of the payroll tax holiday would help 95 percent of working families, but would disproportionately benefit working and middle-class people, as there’s a cap that prevents wealthy people from being taxed on anything they make over about $100,000.

Last night, Republicans in the Senate killed a Democratic bill that would have extended the middle-class tax holiday while raising taxes slightly on just the wealthiest 0.4 percent of Americans.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/12/02/381058/boehner-payroll-tax-chicken-shit/

motherjones:

New issue, and a new cover. Whuddya think?

motherjones:

New issue, and a new cover. Whuddya think?

 John Boehner and the GOP want chip away at Roe and, in the process, redefine what constitutes rape. The potential effects of this legislation, H.R.3, are far-reaching.  One of the most devastating consequences would be effectively codifying the Hyde Amendment into law.  Right now, Congress votes every year to renew the Hyde  Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortion,  with exceptions for rape and incest, which means that getting rid of it  is as simple as Congress not renewing it.  Passing legislation to make it permanent and expanding it, as H.R.3 would do, would be much more difficult to unwind. Speaker John Boehner has indicated he will make passing this legislation a top priority of the new Congressional session.


John Boehner and the GOP want chip away at Roe and, in the process, redefine what constitutes rape. The potential effects of this legislation, H.R.3, are far-reaching. One of the most devastating consequences would be effectively codifying the Hyde Amendment into law. Right now, Congress votes every year to renew the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortion, with exceptions for rape and incest, which means that getting rid of it is as simple as Congress not renewing it. Passing legislation to make it permanent and expanding it, as H.R.3 would do, would be much more difficult to unwind.

Speaker John Boehner has indicated he will make passing this legislation a top priority of the new Congressional session.