Boehner Throws a Tantrum and Refuses to Stop Sequester Until Republicans Get Their Way

In case you are still wondering who’s behind the sequester, with Republicans publicly laying it at the President’s feet every chance they get, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) just refreshed everyone’s memory if a House Republican leadership aide is to be believed. The answer is Republicans. House Republicans, to be specific.

A House Republican leadership aide told Roll Call Wednesday morning that Boehner made the “political reality” of Thursday’s scheduled meeting clear: “(T)he sequester won’t be replaced until Democrats agree to a whole host of cuts and overhauls.”

Congressional leaders (Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)) are meeting Thursday morning to discuss the upcoming fiscal issues — or rather, how the House is going to dodge the angry Tea Partiers as they fail once again to defund ObamaCare after all of those promises.

In case you missed it, this isn’t the first time Boehner or an aide has taken ownership of the sequester cuts. In March of this year, he admitted that Obama didn’t want the sequester cuts.

Boehner further owns the sequester cuts because he refused to allow a vote on the replacement bill, knowing that he didn’t have his own party votes behind him.

Boehner and several House Republicans like Paul Ryan (R-WI) have crowed publicly about getting the sequester cuts they always dreamed of, Eric Cantor (R-VA) even claimed that he and Paul Ryan were the driving force behind the sequester. But when Republicans aren’t talking to the base, they suddenly get Romnesia and blame Obama for the sequester. That’s probably because their sequester is doing all kinds of nasty things, like leaving veterans homeless.

The reason Head Start isn’t funded and government workers are being furloughed is that House Republicans refuse to sit down for budget reconciliation process with the Senate. They prefer instead to pretend that they won the 2012 elections and are in charge of all three branches of government, even though the people voted against austerity as clearly laid out by Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan (see above where he championed sequestration since 2004). Since our government is supposed to force compromise between the chambers, Republicans have to keep finding new ways to hold us all hostage in order to get their way.

It’s about time they were at least held accountable for the sequester.

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