President Obama made a surprise appearance in front of White House reporters today to urge House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the rest of his conference to quickly approve a Senate bill to extend the current payroll tax holiday for another two months.
Obama unexpectedly entered the briefing room to interrupt his top spokesman, Jay Carney, and send a direct message to Boehner and other House leaders.
“I need the Speaker and House Republicans to…put politics aside. Put aside issues where there are fundamental disagreements and come together on something we agree on. And let’s not play brinksmanship. The American people are weary of it. They’re tired of it. They expect better. I’m calling on the Speaker and the House Republican leadership to bring up the Senate bill for a vote.”
“Right now the bipartisan compromise that was reached on Saturday is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike,” Obama added.
Just a short while before Obama made his remarks, the House voted to move to conference on a measure it passed last week to extend the two percent tax cut for one whole year. The vote essentially served as a rejection of the temporary extension, which the Senate passed on Saturday by a vote of 89-10.
Though Boehner has already appointed eight conferees, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has yet to do the same. When asked whether Obama would lean on Reid to follow suit, Carney replied, “the House oughtta pass the [Senate] measure.”
Later, when asked why leaders don’t take a few days off from negotiations and re-visit the issue next week, Carney replied, “there is a very easy solution here, pass the Senate bill.”