Opinion: Obama is obstructionist to compromise
By Eric Cantor
For three years, Congress and the White House have been building to this moment. Not the debt limit or Obamacare specifically, but this clarifying moment of Washington dysfunction. President Obama has led us here by continually thwarting the will of Congress and dismissing its role in our constitutional republic. This must end.
The president not only has refused to negotiate on issues of debt and spending but also has mocked the very idea of engaging with Congress. President Obama has repeatedly made clear that he feels it is beneath the office of the presidency to work in a bipartisan way with the legislative branch.
Eric Cantor
The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse and the power to borrow. The president was given the power to veto measures, including those related to spending and borrowing. These separate powers created checks and balances but also forced the executive and legislative branches to work together.
As James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 48, “It is equally evident, that none of [the branches of the federal government] ought to possess, directly or indirectly, an overruling influence over the others, in the administration of their respective powers.”
In the 224 years of our nation’s history, one party has controlled the House, Senate and White House for 130 years. President Obama enjoyed two of those years, and it’s no surprise he wishes that were still the case. Yet while 28 of 44 U.S. presidents have found a way to lead in divided government, this president has not.
In 2006, then-Sen. Obama said: “Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”
Seven years later, and after the nation’s debt had doubled, President Obama refuses to even sit at the same table as Republicans and work to solve the “debt problem” he correctly identified as a senator. That is a much larger failure of leadership.
This has, unfortunately, been the case since 2011. President Obama has often chosen to unilaterally circumvent the law under the guise of executive authority. Most recently, that was demonstrated in July with his delay of Obamacare mandates for corporations, but it has been a hallmark of this presidency.
Courts have held that President Obama violated the Constitution with certain “recess” appointments, ignoring the required consent of Congress. He has abused executive-branch “rule making” rather than working with Congress to pass laws. He has ignored the letter of the law when it comes to religious liberty and work requirements for welfare.
President Obama has used executive orders to unilaterally change U.S. immigration laws. His administration has used waivers to change laws such as No Child Left Behind to compel states to adopt new policies.
In some of these instances, the president attempted to garner statutory authority, failed to do so and then acted in defiance of that. In other instances, he never bothered to find consensus and ignored Congress from the outset, usually contending that he simply had no choice. This is no way to govern, and it cripples the system of checks and balances that our Founding Fathers envisioned.
Working in divided government is not new. As recently as 1995, President Bill Clinton worked overtime with House Speaker Newt Gingrich to reach bipartisan compromise over the debt ceiling and to end a government shutdown.
Neither Clinton nor congressional Republicans got everything they wanted from those negotiations. They found consensus, and that consensus moved the country forward; they managed to balance the budget because they worked together.
Just two years ago, President Obama and House Republicans came to an agreement to raise the debt ceiling and implement much-needed reductions in spending. It wasn’t a perfect agreement, but it, too, moved the nation forward. For the first time since the Korean War, the United States will have two consecutive years of reduced nominal spending.
After that agreement, the American people re-elected a divided government. They expect us to work together just as it was done in 2011, 1996, 1995 and years before — and they will not accept one party simply refusing to negotiate. Mr. President, let’s sit down and talk. Let’s reach consensus and end the “my way or the highway” attitude once and for all.
Eric Cantor, R-Va., is the House majority leader.
More liberal biased drivel? LOL.
Oh, boo, hoo, hoo, Eric. Not one word why your party shut down the government–your party’s refusal to accept Affordable Care, the law of the land and upheld by the (right-wing controlled) Supreme Court. Not one word. Only that Obama refuses to kowtow to your bullying and damaging technique. Well, Eric, you asked for what you got and now you’re whining because you got it. What if Democrats had said, we’ll shut down the government unless strict gun control laws are enacted? Would you compromise on that?
Huh. Obama an obstructionist unwilling to talk to the House GOP? Well if that’s the case was he inviting the entire House GOP caucus to come over to play ping pong when he made that invitation day before yesterday?
Oh yeah, and isn’t John Boehner being an obstructionist by not allowing the House of Representatives to vote on a clean budget bill, one that at this point just may have enough GOP votes to pass?
These traitors to the constitution rely on revisionist history to further their fascist agenda.
And here’s what John McCain thinks of this situation, “We started this on a fool’s errand, convincing so many millions of Americans and our supporters that we could defund Obamacare,” McCain said.
Isn’t Harry Reid the obstructionist by not allowing one bill to be brought to the floor of the Senate for a vote?
He has not allowed one proposal from the GOP yet to be brought to a vote because he controls the Senate and is afraid that it would pass and if he say’s NO, that it.
If your so cock sure of yourself, tell your leader to at least put it to a vote !! That’s what they call fair to the American People. 14 budget proposals sent to the Senate by the GOP,and not one has been allowed to be VOTED ON, and when you Control the Senate because they have the majority and are afraid to let it be voted on, then you are afraid it would pass.
Not even close. Choking on a limp boehner and a teabag is so unbecoming. Wonder where santorum is.
Good job undefined,
dumbfounded Biggerpicture and Dumbluck. You are LOW INFORMATION VOTER’S
If OBAMACARE IS A GOOD THING FOR US THEN WHY IS THE CONGRESS, SENATE AND THE PRESIDENT NOT REQUIRED TO SIGN UP FOR IT ??? dumbfounded Biggerpicture and Dumbluck. You are LOW INFORMATION VOTER’S.
along with their staff and families ?? OR CAN’T YOU ANSWER THAT QUESTION ?
69% OF THE COUNTRY DON’T WANT OBAMACARE. GET A CLUE.
Don’t look now Old Timer, but John Boehner just blinked.
The tea party and frozen republicans is a ungovernable collection of snake-handlers, Bible-bangers, ignorami, bagmen and outright frauds, a collection so ungovernable that it insists the nation be ungovernable, too. We have elected people to govern us who do not believe in government.
They have arranged to shut down the federal government because it disapproves of a law passed by a previous Congress, signed by the president, and upheld by the Supreme Court, a law that does nothing more than extend the possibility of health insurance to the millions of Americans who do not presently have it, a law based on a proposal from a conservative think-tank and taken out on the test track in Massachusetts by a Republican governor who also happens to have been the party’s 2012 nominee for president of the United States. That is why the government of the United States is, in large measure, closed today.
Eric, you are a moron.
Atomic
A LAW PASSED BY THE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS THAT WOULD NOT ALLOW ONE PIECE OF IT TO HAVE INPUT FROM THE REPUBLICANS AND THEY WROTE 2600 PAGES AND NOT ONE OF THEM READ IT BEFORE THEY VOTED ON IT AND TO THIS DAY STILL HAVEN’T.
BUT LIKE QUEEN NANCY SAID “YOU HAVE TO PASS IT BEFORE YOU KNOW WHAT’S IN IT”
WHAT A BRILLIANT WOMAN !!! BUT SHE IS A DEMOCRAT AND THEY ARE ALL BRILLIANT AREN’T THEY ? THAT’S WHY 80% OF THE PEOPLE ON WELFARE, FOOD STAMPS, FREE PHONES THAT WE ALL PAY FOR,SECTION 8 HOUSING AND ALL THE GOVERNMENT FREE HANDOUTS ARE DEMOCRATS.
Oh Oldtimer, I do think you mean well.
It is a law. The republicans forget the time for debate was back then, before it was a law.
Take a hard look at yourself. Where do you get your healthcare? Are you walking out to your mailbox for your checks from Social Security, from Medicare, perhaps Medical. Do you get a discount on prescription drugs?
ALL OF THIS COSTS MONEY OLDTIMER. ARE YOU REALLY ON YOUR OWN, NOT TAKING A SINGLE SUBSIDY FROM ANYTHING. YOU ARE NOT PURE, YOU ARE JUST OLD AND ANGRY AND CONFUSED.
Hey Old Timer-Squealing in all caps doesn’t make your foxNfriends talking points any less fact-free
And Will Anderson-LTN is just printing the opinion of serial whiner Eric Cantor-its nonsense- but it is news that needs to be heard
I should of known – another Republican bashing a Democrat. Or was it a Democrat bashing another Republican? America – don’t you understand both parties are wrong for this country.
This is on the republicans. There is no equivalency here, that is a cop out.
It is pure “Tyranny” on Obama’s part ! and that Reid !
Last two elections must have been a mistake ….
ATOMIC you are so right
“The republicans forget the time for debate was back then, before it was a law.”
But, they were not allowed into DEBATE, the Democratic controlled Congress would not allow it. If they would have had input I would not be angry.
Looks to me like the divide & conquer strategy is alive & well in this country. Bickering in this format shows the how the division of the mind sets will allow this to continue and destroy the American spirit, or has it already done that?…. Have you looked around & noticed the armored vehicle in town, the one with the machine gun turret being installed? Are “they” getting prepared, for when this rhetorical bull gets out of control, and will “we” be the targets? How will they know who’s who, or will the politicos be directing the “targets for today”, sound familiar?
Remember when Robert McNamara & LBJ player the roles?
Remember the costs then?
Disgusted by you all… Keep on drinking the cool aid
Thank you Lake Tahoe News for printing fact and not Liberal fiction!!!
Hey Old Timer… can you please show us the photo of the picture where the Democrats held a gun to the head of all those Republicans who voted for ACA? I guessed I missed that one. As for your 80% comment… pure bunk.
Hey old timer what kind of insurance do you have ? I don’t know where you get this number of 69% of the country does not want Obama care but thats wrong.!
What is wrong with you people that donot want the uninsured to have insurance.?
My daughter had leukemia and could not get insurance now she can
What the hell is wrong with you people ? The Congress and Obama have the best insurance possible why would they want a thing else .I wish we all could all have that kind of insurance
That’s a fact Jack!
The overarching message from the angry right is ‘Im good, I don’ t want to participate in anything that changes how good I have it and I frankly don’t care about your problems, especially if it takes ANYTHING away from me and MY federally subsidized benefits, ’cause I’m good. Dog eat dog baby, except, well, if I need it, then we will talk…….remind anybody of a grade school playground?
Pathetic.
Lisa
No republicans voted for the ACA, only Democrats who had the majority.
Jack
I am sorry about that 69%, Latest poll 10 minutes ago it was at 73% per CNN.
Also I am on Medicare and have to purchase a secondary policy to help cover what medicare won’t. at a cost of $487.40 per month each for my wife and I.
plus co-pays for all of our drugs at $25.00 per prescription or 25% which ever is greater and a co-pay for Doctor visits of $20.00.I pay $110 per month for medicare and so does my wife.
The one thing that I like in Obamacare is the pre-existing part and I’m happy about your Daughter now being carried.
I make $289.00 to much to qualify for any Gov Assistance.
Have a great day
Atomic, it isn’t about how ‘good we have it’. It’s about the overreaching of the Federal government. That’s all it’s about. We don’t all have it that good, and we certainly don’t all get ‘federally subsidized benefits’. A lot of us just want to be left alone and be allowed to make our own decisions about how we spend what we earn.
What a concept. Apparently one a lot of people cannot understand.
Old Timer, have you thought about checking out Medicare Advantage(part C)open enrollment is now, check to see if your doctor is on a plan, these many times include part D(prescription drugs) and may times have litle or no premuim. Blue Cross and Blue Sheild cover this area(sheild may be a little better)
Parts of ACA are good like pre existing conditions, the closing of the Donut Hole, and the requirement that 85% of insurance premuims must be used for health care or insureds get a refund.
Thank god the GOP looks to be backing off from ACA and is going after the real problem which is deficit spending. Our debt went from 73% of our GDP in 2008 to about 102% today. And our spending went from 2.9 trillon in 2008 to 3.8 trillon in 2013, which is higher than 2010 when we were in the midst of the great resession(and using shovel ready stimulations) and still had troops in Iraq. Tax revenue went from 2.7 trillon in 2008 to 2.9 in 2009 up from a low of 2.1 trillon in 2009. The budget should be a good 300 billion less than it is currently. If the budget was 2.9 in 2008 adjusted for inflation it should have been 3.15 trillon in 2013.
Dogula look up moral hazard. People don’t have a right to go uninsured when the insured and hospital providers are forced to pick up the tab when they get seriously injured or sick. I understand the theory is a little complex but think about it.
We are already paying for people who are uninsured, if they go to the hospital the hospital by law may not refuse health care. If they dont pay the cost of their care is spread amounst the rest of us thru insurance premuims. But the ACA did not go far enought to stop the high cost why is our healthcare 3 times per capita the cost of other developed countries. This guy on this link explains alot, http://www.upworthy.com/his-first-4-sentences-are-interesting-the-5th-blew-my-mind-and-made-me-a-little-sick-2?g=2
Thank You reloman,
I’ll look into those and see if they can do better for us.
I don’t understand your point, Moral Hazard. I am insured. I have purchased my own medical insurance for most of my adult life.
If you are referring to other people, well, if they aren’t insured, then hospitals and doctors should have the option of treating them or not. Some people have enough money to pay their bills themselves. Those who don’t, have other options. Private charitable organizations, installment plans, whatever. Life is a gamble, and if you want to take the chance that nothing will happen to your health, that should be up to you. It’s a stupid gamble, but why should I be able to force you to live the way I want you to?
When did personal responsibility and personal freedom become such a foreign concept?
I agree with Moral, I am fed up with the freeloaders making the rest of us pay. ACA goes a long way to making everybody pay their share, a very conservative idea.
Dogula, I’m also fed up with government overreach, I do get it. However, living in society has certain costs. We are all connected and to pretend we are not will lead to the frustration and anger that is so rampant on the right. Laws are imperfect, but ACA is the law and if leaders in congress want to change it they must not act like terrorists when they were hired to be lawmakers, safeguarding what is in the best interest of the country, which is not government shutdown and defaulting on the debt. No respect for that, just sore losers.
Well, the 2nd Amendment has been the law a lot longer than obamacare has been, yet a lot of folks here keep trying to change that, too.
We all have to follow our core beliefs.
I’m with Dogula.
Why can’t people just die quietly in their hovels and stop *pestering* the rest of us. Really. Some people are soooo rude.
Well Dog, you do have the solution. If we do remove the requirement that hospitals provide emergency care then health care costs will decline precipitously and there is no moral hazard.
A more interesting idea would be for the Republicans to push for real tort reform to be added to the ACA. That would really tick off the trial lawyers who are a Democratic voting block but it would be tenable.
Moral Hazard, I agree. Tort reform would make an enormous difference in costs. But since all the DC politicians but a few are lawyers, it ain’t gonna happen. For the same reason sharks don’t eat lawyers; professional courtesy.
The ACA is here to stay Repubs/Tea Baggers , better start looking for somewhere else to enjoy your “Republic” …
Stomp your feet – curse and swear – still recommending seeing your physicians for some anti-anxiety meds
Gallup pole – repubs dropped another 10% in past month , down to 28% and dropping. Oh well………. keep dreaming people – you’ve already shot off both feet !
John, no one is doing well in the Polls, the Demos are not doing much better. The President is doing the best and that is still not good below 50% approval.
All the negotiation on the ACA happened before it was passed and became the law of the land nearly four years ago! This is extortionism, plain and simple. As Dumbluck wrote above, “What if Democrats had said, we’ll shut down the government unless strict gun control laws are enacted? Would you compromise on that?”
This inane and unnecessary government shutdown was conceived of by Cantor, McClintock and colleagues as ransom to get rid of the law they are obsessed over, the will of the people (through the legislative process, elections, court decisions, etc) be damned.
It doesn’t matter whether you or the tea partiers in Congress like Obamacare or not. Unless those who support this strategy are willing to put all laws on the table for “negotiation”– including those passed by Republicans — as the price of not shutting the government down and paying our debts, than this hostage-taking move can not and should not be supported on principle and precedent. The way to fix a law is to amend it — through that process you can have real negotiations.
This Cantor/Boehner/McClintock/Tea Party maneuver is a subversion of democracy, plain and simple. Stupid strategy, to boot.
Interesting & ironic how the government shutdown has served to remind us of the many good things (like our public, National parks, among many others) the government provides us that we miss once gone, giving us a small ( but bitter) taste of what “small government ” the Tea Party advocates could be like if it became reality. I never have complained about paying taxes, but now I appreciate some of the things taxes pay for even more.
Old Roses smell just as sweet! Very succinctly put.
Old Rose, spoken like a true servant, “thank you government, giver of all that is good”.
FYI – your idols closed the war memorials to the very people that earned them, risked their lives and limbs and and many lost their lives, and team Obama, Reid and Pelosi put up the barricades – today they were torn down by noble me and women. If that is a moral perspective you are comfortable with, to block these fine people from their outdoor monuments, then you would not be welcome at my table. Nor would I join you at yours’.
I have no respect for that type of person. I found Sacramento California and South Lake Tahoe region over the past 20 years to be full of this growing liberal hate.
I left the area never to return, there is a retched part to the community that disgusts me. I speak of it often, never favorably.
CJ (McCoy),
Since you left the area I probably don’t know you, but I was expecting to hear from you. My, my you do jump to a lot of conclusions from a short blog. You’re wrong on a number of things. You might be surprised, I am quite likable, even to those who disagree with my politics, (or so they tell me). I don’t “idolize” any of those you mention. I certainly don’t always agree with them, but I do admire them in many ways & cheer for the things they do right. I even tune in to Fox News now & then, despite their dismal credibility. I listen to all with a skeptic ear, analyze, check the facts, and draw my own conclusions. I also admire civil disobedience as your friends (?) practiced when they tore down the barricades, although I think their blame is sadly misplaced. I have friends and family who are buried in military cemeteries as well as Norwegian relatives who lost their lives fighting Nazi’s, so please, spare me those condescending comments. I am sorry you feel the need to isolate yourself from (run from?) those who are different from you. I have no such need. I enjoy relationships with everyone from homeless to billionaires, ultra conservatives to ultra lefties. I learn something from everyone. Try taking off your toxic armor, you might learn something & enjoy life a little more.
You have banned me from your dinner table and you don’t even know me. Now, who were you saying is hateful ?
Bravo Rose!
“FYI – your idols closed the war memorials”
I guess you missed the rule invoked by you know who that said that required that only the speaker of the house be able to do budget stuff.
Well now you know. I trust that you will use this new information to reevaluate your worldview.
Geez Kae, you left a door open and look what flew in.
“Tort reform would make an enormous difference in costs.”
It wouldn’t come close to fixing the 5% GDP disparity between our countrys healthcare spending and the second highest spender.
cosa,
How do you know?
HOW DO YOU KNOW?
You are very impressed with yourself. I am sure you are the only one.
You are a typical Government employee punk. Full of two things, yourself and I can’t say the other thing but I am sure most people get the drift.
How do I know?
I am not ignorant.
How do you not know?
You are ignorant.
Pretty simple.
Yes casa, you are pretty simple. Simple minded.
If you all want to see an amusing 8min clip (factual I might add, but with humor) of what is truly driving our health care cost, to the tune of nearly double that of other countries take a peak at this. Turns out tort reform would affect less then 2% of health care cost. The things that drives cost more then anything else, other countries negotiate the price of prescription and medical devises. One reason Medicare is so effective, it can negotiate (kind of like a country) for a lot of devices or services, which has the effective of driving the price down. The two attached links let’s you know, that in the U.S. we have thousands of entities negotiating prices separately, while most European countries rely on a larger market as a hammer. In other words, American companies sell the same product way cheaper to the European Market while they stick it to us.
http://www.upworthy.com/his-first-4-sentences-are-interesting-the-5th-blew-my-mind-and-made-me-a-little-sick-2?c=ufb1
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/health/for-medical-tourists-simple-math.html?_r=0
Rick
The entire health care law is a compromise. The best solution was always single payer and the democrats compromised until the result is teetering on the edge of unworkable. The sequester cuts resulted from a compromise. The stimulus plan was a compromise. This pres has compromised plenty. Eric Cantor and his conservative friends are disingenuous and dishonorable when they claim Obama won’t compromise.
The Democrats compromised? How? Why? They never even invited the Republicans to the discussions. They had all the votes. They passed their bill without a single Republican vote. Do not try to blame this atrocity on the Republicans. This is the Democrats’ baby. And it will come crashing down on itself eventually.
The only people who are signing up for it are the ones who will be getting it free. It’s such a great plan that NOBODY but the takers want it. Everybody that passed the bill has exempted themselves.
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/10/18/the-good-washington-state-signs-up-25000-for-obamacare-the-very-bad-majority-are-welfare-cases-and-wont-pay-anything/
Thanks West Shore:
The real amusing thing is the key principles of the ACA were born by the Heritage Foundation in the 1990’s: individual mandate and expansion of Medicaid to the working poor (umm, sound familiar). Well, the Heritage Foundation campaigned against Hillary Clinton’s Plan in the 1990’s pushing their own conservative answer, and it formed the basis of Romneycare, according to Mitt Romney in his 2010 book.
Now they are campaigning against their own ideas as attacking individual liberties- wow, no hypocrisy here.
This is one of many sites which provide the history:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-heritage-foundation-disowns-its-baby
Rick
Regardless of where it came from in the ’90’s, it is BAD law.
As I’ve said before, I don’t care if GWB signed the Patriot Act, it was bad law. Errors from the past do not excuse the crap that’s going on now. Fix it NOW. If not now, WHEN??
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.”
George Orwell
OK but why is it a bad law?
Oh right…
‘2000 pages, duhhhh’
Also that weasel website…. that is one of the places you go for information?
HAHAHAH
Obama Care is such a mess and who knows if it can e fixed? But consider this, if they do salvage it, it will still be run by the IRS. An IRS that was just caught snooping on Americans for political purposes and outright illegal activity against conservative charity groups.
Does that make sense to anyone?
The Agency should be disbanded instead they will run your healthcare.
CJ, first of all conservative charity is an oxymoron. Secondly, they may have been non profit, but I’m pretty sure they all were political non profits, as opposed to non profit charitible organizations. I’m not trying to justify the actions of the IRS, just trying to correct you’re Fox News style facts.
Biggerpicture,
So you agree , the actions of the IRS are unjustifiable.
Obviously then if it is unjust we need to investigate and hold the criminals to account.
You would agree to that too, right? I mean people need to held accountable for their actions especially government employees using their positions of power to steal the rights of others. That is indeed a crime. A high crime I would say.
Rick, I when I first saw this clip weeks ago it blew my mind, though I did know most of this years ago, this just put it in a better format. I agree tort reform will do very little. Though I would be affraid what going to single payer system would do to the economy. Hospitals and doctors would go into a tailspin with massive layoffs, and the stockmarket would also drop by huge amounts which may very well throw us into another huge recession.
America continues it’s catastrophic decline under the staggering liberal policies of Obama.
New information surfaces that the website for Obamacare was only equipped to handle 1,100 users a day before its launch.
WHAT COULD BE BEHIND SUCH MASSIVE INCOMPETENCE?
SHOULD OBAMA BE IMPEACHED FOR THE BLATANT LIES HE USED TO SELL THIS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?
NOTE: Unlike the screamers on the left, the Obama lies exist. Everyone knows he actively deceived Americans. It is on video tape 29 times!
Unlike the robot chant “Bush Lied” nonsense, it is not just a chant that was started up by Teddy Kennedy while on the Senate floor – what a deceitful sack he was.