Boehner Challenges Obama To 'Take Yes For An Answer'

By Andrea Salazar

Following the Senate’s rejection of President Obama’s American Jobs Act and the recent approval of three key trade agreements, the Speaker of the House is asking the president to find common ground with congressional Republicans.

“It’s time for the White House to stop the campaigning and start listening and working with bipartisan members of Congress to do what the American people expect of us - find common ground and move ahead,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) at a Thursday press conference.

The House Speaker also argued that passing the free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, coupled with the House’s work to repeal the 3 percent withholding tax on federal contracts are testament to the amount of collaboration going on in Congress. Boehner called on Obama to work with Congress get Americans back to work. 

“I would tell… and challenge the president to take ‘yes’ for an answer,” Boehner said.

Cantor Highlights Democratic Opposition To Jobs Bill

By Janie Amaya

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Tuesday night’s vote in the Senate proved that the American Jobs Act is not just opposed by Republicans, but by Democrats as well.

“The Senate’s action last night, proved that the month-long campaign that the White House has been on to promote the Presidents bill, failed,” Cantor said during a press conference in the RNC’s lobby, noting that the vote demonstrated that the President couldn’t even get the necessary support in his own party to pass the bill.

He noted that even in the House, the chief sponsor of the President’s jobs bill put it in by request, which Cantor says does not indicate whole-hearted support of the bill.

“When we hear several on the other side of the aisle in the Senate indicate that somehow, this is [the Republican’s] economy and we’re to blame because we are not passing the President’s bill, I think we can all see through that now,” Cantor said.

The bill failed to pass its first procedural hurdle after two Democratic Senators, Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) voted against invoking cloture. Democrats would have likely seen more defectors if the package had moved to a final vote.

Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-Ohio), who joined Cantor, said the American Jobs Act is contrary to what is needed right now to help small businesses grow, adding that moving forward with the Free Trade bills with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea is an area of common ground.

“We’re going to continue to work with the President in order to create a better environment,” Boehner said. “Not everything the President outlined is something we agree with, certainly not everything we’ve outlined is something the President would agree with.”

Pro-Trade Advocates Stress Need For Bipartisan Support

By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

Advocates of free trade argued for reestablishing a bipartisan consensus in favor of open markets during a briefing on Capitol Hill. The panel included Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX), founder of the Congressional Pro-Trade Caucus, and Daniel J. Ikenson, Associate Director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute. 

"The bipartisan pro-trade consensus which existed after World War II collapsed during the Bush administration," said Ikenson. He said that Democratic support of free trade began to decline in the 1990s. Ikenson cited the political allegiance between the Democrats and advocates for labor and the environment as one influential factor in this trend, but also said that Republican efforts to push through the pro-trade agenda without involving the Democrats sharpened the partisan divide during the Bush years.

Rep. Cuellar argued that both parties should work together to form a consensus. "You have to do it in a bipartisan way, and you got to include the minority from the beginning," he said. "For the Democratic Party, it would be a mistake to turn our backs to trade."  

Ikenson noted that Americans now view trade agreements with increasing disapproval. "America's souring on trade over the past few years is the product of a top-down process," he said. He argued that public opinion is influenced by false myths about free trade, which discount free trade's potential to engender wealth creation and peaceful foreign policy. 

Both Cuellar and Ikenson said that they believed President Obama would sway public opinion by advancing a pro-trade agenda. Cuellar sad that he was worried by some of Obama's campaign rhetoric, which included harsh criticisms of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but has been impressed by Obama's cabinet appointments, including Ron Kirk as United States Trade Representative. "I feel very, very good about President Obama," said Cuellar. 

With health-care reform and global warming bills coming up in Congress, Cuellar said that trade agreements may be put on hold for the summer, in order to avoid splitting the Democratic caucus. He said that he hopes trade agreements will be established with Panama and Colombia before the year is over.

Colombian President seeks popular approval

"Human rights, YES" said the signs protesters carried outside the National Press Club, when the Colombian President Alvaro Uribe today visited Washington DC to deliver comments on the "Colombia, a success story" event hosted by the National Press Club, and to urge Congress to pass the Colombia-US free trade agreement bill.

Uribe, who was not elected by a majority of voters, wants to make Colombia more attractive to foreign investors. According to Uribe, new investments in the country will reduce the country's long-lasting problems with guerilla insurgency and illegal drugs. "It's very important with democratic values," said Uribe.

According to Uribe, it is crucial for Colombia to solve the violence issues related to guerilla groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). "We have many internal problems, we have to solve them with the help of United States and with help of other countries," Uribe said.

Uribe admits having a close relationship with Russia, but assured that Colombia will remain friendly to Latin American countries as well as other democratic countries and refers to the United States as a "great ally."