GOP Leaders, Conferees Vow To Work Through Holiday

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), flanked by Republican conferees selected to negotiate a final payroll tax holiday deal, again pleaded with Senate Democrats Wednesday to return to Washington, appoint conferees and “do the people’s work.”

“All we’re asking for is to get the Senate Dems over here to work with us to resolve our difference so we can do what everybody wants to do; extend the payroll tax credit for the next year,” Boehner told reporters. 

Cantor said that the only item separating the two parties is the duration of a potential extended payroll package. A bill passed by the Senate would’ve extended the payroll tax holiday, unemployment insurance and doctor reimbursements for two months. House Republicans, however, disapproved of that, arguing that the extension should be lengthened from two months to an entire year. 

So lies the current debate that has yet again forced Congress to work into the eleventh hour to reach consensus, this time on an issue that would directly affect more than 160 million Americans. it’s no wonder a whopping 86 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, according to a recent Gallup poll. 

House Republicans, though, have vowed to stick around as long as it takes for a deal to get done. Considering both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have announced that they would not be appointing conferees, it’s not likely that the two chambers will reach a deal via conference. 

“Republicans are committed to a full-year’s tax cut for families… and we’re willing to work throughout the holidays to make sure that happens,” Rep. Kevin Brady, a GOP conferree, said. “So Mr. President, Senate Democrats, vacation’s second, do your jobs first.”

Senate GOP'ers Blast Obama For Threatening To Veto Payroll Plan

Republican leaders in the upper chamber blasted President Obama Tuesday for threatening to veto legislation ending payroll relief that includes language requiring the president to sign off on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. 

Following a closed-door luncheon, Republican senators explained that the balanced function of their version of the payroll tax holiday, arguing the Keystone XL Pipeline is estimated to produce an immediate 20,000 jobs and that other language rolling back regulations on the EPA’s Maximum Achievable Control Technology would ultimately save jobs. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered his support for the current GOP payroll tax package, calling it a bipartisan bill that deserves to be passed. 

“This has been a very balanced package put together by the House designed to appeal to both Republicans and Democrats.”

McConnell also fired on Democrats for signaling that they may withhold a vote on the omnibus bill until language is changed in the Republican payroll plan.

 “It’s appropriate to ask the President and the Majority Leader why they want to undo a deal that was already made and threaten to shut down the government here a week before Christmas,” McConnell said. 

“This is a rarity around here,” McConnell enumerated. “We’ve got a bipartisan agreement on a number of appropriations bills and the President, presumably in order to create some political issue - which I find difficult to understand - has instructed Democratic senators not to sign the conference report on a bill they support.”

Huntsman Blasts Obama, Romney and Gingrich

At the National Press Club on Thursday, GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman criticized President Obama and fellow GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich for their lack of trust.

“America suffers from a deficit of dollars and jobs. We also suffer from a deficit of trust  ­‑ trust in our institutions of power, from Washington to Wall Street,” Huntsman declared.

“The president came to office with a mandate to restore trust in Washington,” Huntsman continued, “yet his inexperience and failure to lead have left us worse off.”

Huntsman continued to criticize President Obama for wasting “an entire year jamming through a health care plan the American people didn’t ask for and can’t afford,” rather than focusing on developing a plan to improve the economy.

“My opponents offer no better,” Huntsman added in reproach of Romney and Gingrich.

Huntsman categorized Romney as a candidate who “will say anything to earn the voter’s trust” and Gingrich as a product of that same Washington, who participated in the excesses of our broken and polarized political system.”

“We have a choice in this race between a panderer-in-chief, a lobbyist-in-chief and a commander-in-chief,” Huntsman stated as he noted that he was the commander-in-chief.

Huntsman then laid out a seven-fold plan to revive the American economy and restore trust in Washington:

1.     Reform tax code – eliminate loopholes and subsidies to lower rates across the board for individuals and businesses

2.     Cut spending throughout government – reform entitlement programs based on the Ryan plan, while maintaining commitments to those already in retirement

3.     “Make sure no financial entity is too big to fall” – break up big banks on Wall Street

4.     Adopt comprehensive energy strategy that frees the US from foreign oil and eliminates all energy subsidies

5.     Systematically streamline regulations to make free, fair and competitive marketplace

6.     Bring troops home from Afghanistan while leaving an effective counterterrorism presence

7.     Amend constitution such that there are term limits for Congress – six two-year terms for House members and two six-year terms for senators. 

“You may not agree with me on every single issue,” Huntsman concluded, “but you’ll always know exactly where I stand, and I will never waver from my conservative convictions.”

GOP Leaders Downplay Dip In Jobless Rate

House GOP leaders downplayed the dip in the nation’s unemployment rate from 9 percent to 8.6 percent Friday morning, the lowest recorded rate in nearly three years.

“Today’s unemployment numbers certainly look good on its surface,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said at a Friday press conference. “If you look at the number of new jobs created, there’s just not enough new jobs being created in America.”

According to the latest unemployment numbers, the economy added 120,000 jobs in November. Despite seeing jobs totals reach at least 100,000 in the past three months - September numbers were revised showing 210,000 new jobs were added, an uptick of 52,000 from the initial report - House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) voiced his concern over the period of time in which the jobless rate has remained above 8 percent. 

“The jobless rate in our country is still unacceptably high, Boehner said. “Today marks the 34th consecutive month of unemployment above eight percent.”

Though Republican leaders welcomed the dip in the unemployment rate as “good news,” they remained skeptical of Obama’s economic agenda. Boehner used the opportunity to call on President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Senate to take up 25 House-passed bills, all of which are considered job creators by House Republicans.

“It is time for the president to admit, after being able to enact all the major tenants of his agenda… that ultimately his policies are not working,” Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said. “We would ask Mr. President to please asks Mr. Reid to pass our jobs bills.”

Boehner Looks To Obama To Help Curb Sequester

Following the collapse of super committee negotiations, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is looking to the Commander-in-Chief to help curb automatic cuts in military spending. 

Though President Obama has already threatened to veto any bill that aims to soften the impact the nation’s defense budget, Boehner continued Thursday to push for curbed sequestration, citing repeated warnings from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta over the detrimental effects cuts would have on the Pentagon. 

“I really believe the president has some responsibilities here as well,” Boehner told reporters. “He is the Commander-in-Chief, he knows what those cuts will mean to the military.”

Boehner, who agreed to the across-the-board cuts when negotiating with Obama on increasing the debt ceiling, is facing growing pressure from his own conference to curb defense cuts. 

“There are a lot of members who are concerned about the defense cuts,” he said. “I understand the concern, but the president is the Commander-in-Chief… I believe there’s a role he plays in this process as well.”