Boehner: "Welcome to Divided Government"

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) began his weekly press conference saying that the House bill passed yesterday to extend payroll tax cuts was a bipartisan effort.

“Did this bill have everything the Republicans wanted? Certainly not. Democrats didn’t get everything they wanted either. But that’s how divided government works. At the same time everything in the House passed bill has bipartisan support. Payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits… bipartisan.” Boehner said.

He went on to say that the bill is fully paid for and 90 percent of the offsets are based on ideas from President Obama. There is a provision in the bill that eliminates tax payer funded benefits  for millionaires and billionaires.

The Speaker added that there are provisions in the current legislation that will jumpstart Keystone Pipeline projects which will create thousands of jobs in this struggling economy.

 When asked about a recent Pew Research Poll that said nearly 70 percent of Americans feel that members of Congress do not deserve to be reelected next year, Boehner said “welcome to divided government.”

“The American people provided a Republican House, a Democratic Senate and a Democrat in the White House. As a result we have to work overtime to find common ground to do what the American people sent us here to do. It’s not pretty and not easy,” Boehner replied.

At an earlier press briefing House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the “House Republican bill was doomed from the start.” She added that she would not go home for the holidays without extending  payroll tax cuts.