On ABC's This Week, we were treated to another interview by Speaker of the House John Boehner where he did a bit of history revision on what went on with Republicans and their recent mucking up the works on allowing an extension of the payroll tax cut to be extended. He also repeated his lie that the Republicans passing thirty "jobs bills" with no challenge from host Jake Tapper.
And of course they're not done trying to get that Keystone pipeline extension jammed through by any means possible, this time with Boehner promising to attach it to the upcoming American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act.
Transcript via This Week:
TAPPER: So I want to get to presidential politics in a second, but let's start with the State of the Union address, President Obama spoke this week, and you said that his message is, quote, "running on the politics of division and envy," and to you, it's almost un-American. What do you mean by that?
BOEHNER: Well, the president doubled down on the same failed policies that have not worked. Matter of fact, they have made the economy worse, higher taxes, more spending, more regulation. What I'm talking about here is the politics of dividing America, the politics of envy. This is not the American way.
And, you know, if the president won't work with us to help create jobs, I'm sure the American people will elect someone who will.
TAPPER: Let's talk about what can possibly be achieved in this very bitterly divided environment. Here's Vice President Biden talking to George Stephanopoulos on "GOOD MORNING AMERICA" just a few days ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST, GOOD MORNING AMERICA: What's the one bill President Obama must have on his desk, must sign into law this year, and how will he work with Congress to get it done?
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The extension of the middle class tax cut, single most urgent thing to do, no excuse, should be done now, should be done immediately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Can you commit to that legislation, and will it be a clean bill?
BOEHNER: Well, I don't know exactly what he's referring to, but extending the payroll tax cut that the president has called for, the House has already passed the year-long extension. We are in a formal conference with the Senate, and I'm confident that we'll be able to resolve this fairly quickly.
TAPPER: In any of the president's proposals, tax proposals that he introduced at the State of the Union, including the one that would discourage manufacturers from moving overseas to take advantage of lower taxes abroad, what -- did you hear anything that you could support and House Republicans would vote for?
BOEHNER: Well, the president's got an awful lot of good ideas. But, you know, the president's own Jobs Council has endorsed many of the Republican ideas. We have passed 30 bills in the House that would help get our economy moving again. Twenty-seven of them are sitting over in the United States Senate.
TAPPER: One of your own members, Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, said this about the remark you just made about 30 jobs bills already having passed the House and not having passed the Senate. He said, quote, "We need to quit passing bills over here, and cheering for ourselves when we know they're dead on arrival over there in the Senate."
His point is that without coordinating with the Senate to make sure that there is momentum for these bills, and that these bills cannot only just get through the House, but can also get through the Senate, it's meaningless. Doesn't he have a point?
BOEHNER: We have a bicameral system, you know, we have the House of Representatives, 435 members from all 50 states. You've got the United States Senate. We can't control what the Senate does or doesn't do.
TAPPER: Yes, but you can talk to them.
BOEHNER: We do talk to them, and I've talked to Harry Reid about moving these bills. But the House has to do its job. And the House has done its job. We've moved these bills. We've sent them over to the Senate. It's time for the Senate to do their job.
TAPPER: But isn't the point that, without coordinating with the Senate before they pass the House, knowing that there's a chance that they will get a majority vote, can get the 60 votes needed to come to the floor -- (CROSSTALK)
BOEHNER: But how do -- how do you know you're going to -- you have 60 votes or you don't have 60 votes in the Senate unless the House does its job and moves this bill over there?
TAPPER: Well, next week you're introducing the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act. Will you attack the Keystone bill to that?
BOEHNER: If it's not enacted before we take up the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, it'll be part of it.
