The Price of Politics (61 page)
261
In the afternoon Boehner and Cantor held a telephone conference call:
Author review of notes of the conference call.
262
“Well, it’s pretty clear that I and our members”:
Meet the Press
transcript, NBC, December 18, 2011.
263
“I think we need to recognize reality”:
Ashley Killough, “McCain: Payroll Tax Cut Showdown ‘Harming’ the GOP,” CNN Politics blog post, December 20, 2011,
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/20/mccain-payroll-tax-cut-showdown-harming-the-gop
/.
264
On Wednesday, December 21
, The Wall Street Journal: Editorial, “The GOP’s Payroll Tax Fiasco,”
The Wall Street Journal
, December 22, 2011.
265
On December 23, in a speedy House session:
Jennifer Steinhauer, “For Payroll Tax Cut, Next Step Is Obama’s Signature,” The Caucus blog,
The New York Times
, December 23, 2011,
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/for-payroll-tax-cut-next-step-is-obamas-desk
/.
266
At 1:25, the president delivered:
Compilation of Presidential Documents, “Remarks on Congressional Action on Payroll Tax Cut and Unemployment Insurance Legislation,” December 23, 2011,
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CPD
.
267
“The Humbling of the House GOP,” said a headline:
Carrie Budoff Brown and Jonathan Allen, “The Humbling of the House GOP,”
Politico
, December 23, 2011,
http://www.politico.com
.
268
“Hate-Filled GOP Suffering from Self-Inflicted Wounds”:
Thomas M. DeFrank, “Hate-Filled GOP Suffering from Self-Inflicted Wounds,”
Daily News
(New York), December 23, 2011, p. 4.
269
“House GOP Surrenders on Payroll Tax Cut”:
Rosalind S. Helderman, “House GOP Surrenders on Payroll Tax Cut,”
The Washington Post
, December 23, 2011, p. A1.
270
Six days later, on February 17:
Steven Sloan, Richard Rubin and Kathleen Hunter, “Congress Passes Extension of Payroll Tax Cut,”
Bloomberg
, February 18, 2012,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-02-17/house-passes-extension-of-payroll-tax-cut-through-2012-by-vote-of-293-132.html
.
271
“You’ll remember,” he said, “I called on Congress”:
Compilation of Presidential Documents, “Remarks on the Payroll Tax Cut and Unemployment Insurance Legislation,” February 21, 2012,
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CPD
.
CHAPTER FORTY
272
In an interview about the debt ceiling:
On the record author interview with Speaker John Boehner, June 7, 2012.
273
Daley at first said he was flattered:
Author phone interview with William Daley, June 2012.
274
“I have no idea,” Boehner said:
On the record author interview with Speaker John Boehner, June 7, 2012.
275
In 2010, Boehner had a 94 percent:
Michael Barone and Chuck
McCutcheon,
Almanac of American Politics 2012
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011).
276
“I don’t know whether it’s him”:
On the record author interview with Speaker John Boehner, June 7, 2012.
277
“I think John wanted to get a deal” the president said to me:
On the record author interview with President Barack Obama, July 11, 2012.
278
“And I’m sure as hell going to do something about it”:
On the record author interview with Speaker John Boehner, June 7, 2012.
*
In the 2010 House election for the Louisiana 2nd District, Obama did an ad for Democrat Cedric Richmond, who beat Cao 65 percent to 33 percent.
*
In February 2012 the University of Chicago surveyed a range of 40 prominent economists and 80 percent agreed with Obama that the stimulus had helped the economy, while only 4 percent disagreed.
*
The Democrats won the game 8–2.
*
The draft proposal Nabors sent to Boehner’s office on July 19 offered to apply the modified Consumer Price Index “to Social Security, mandatory programs, and the tax code beginning in 2015” and to “Reduce the 75-year estimated shortfall of the Social Security Program . . . with a balanced package of tax and benefit changes.”
199
*
In addition to the co-chairs, there were 10 other members of the supercommittee. From the Senate, Reid appointed Max Baucus and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. McConnell appointed Jon Kyl; Senator Rob Portman, of Ohio, who had been OMB director under George W. Bush; and freshman Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, a dedicated deficit hawk, Tea Party favorite and the former president of the ultraconservative Club for Growth. From the House, Boehner appointed Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp and House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, of Michigan. Pelosi appointed the three House Democrats who had served on the Biden group: Xavier Becerra, James Clyburn and Chris Van Hollen.
*
In 2010, Boehner had a 94 percent conservative voting record, according to
National Journal
ratings, and Cantor only 82 percent.
275
ABC News,
122
Affleck, Ben,
325
Affordable Care Act.
See
health care reform
Afghanistan war,
67
,
68
,
94
,
120
,
136
,
147
–48,
149
,
194
,
223
,
241
,
342
agricultural subsidies,
121
,
123
,
201
Alternative Minimum Tax,
166
American Enterprise Institute,
259
American Medical Association,
55
American Opportunity Tax Credit,
76
The American President
(film),
301
Americans for Tax Reform,
11
,
60
Apple,
242
appropriations bill of 2009,
26
–27
Armageddon Project,
327
Asian financial markets,
305
,
348
The Audacity to Win
(Plouffe, 2009),
92
Bachmann, Michele,
122
Balanced Budget Act of 1997,
31
balanced budget amendment,
96
,
117
,
212
,
308
,
330
,
347
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process,
191
Baucus, Max,
36
,
41
,
118
,
121
,
123
,
124
,
125
,
128
,
130
,
132
,
137
,
148
,
360
,
362
Becerra, Xavier,
360
Bennett, Bill,
83
Bernanke, Ben,
96
Biden, Joe
and balanced budget amendment,
347
and Boehner,
350
–52
and Bush tax cut extension,
69
–75,
77
,
78
and Cantor,
125
–26,
128
–29,
136
,
137
–38,
142
–43,
151
,
153
,
192
,
193
,
195
,
266
and congressional plan on debt ceiling crisis (July 2011),
305
,
316
,
326
,
340
,
344
,
346
,
347
,
349
,
350
–52
and Emanuel,
80
and firewall placement,
349
,
350
–52
golfing with Boehner and Obama,
132
,
134
and Graham,
369
at joint congressional leadership meetings
November 18, 2010, proposed,
61
November 30, 2010,
64
–65
July 14, 2011,
231
and McConnell,
70
–75,
80
,
142
,
208
,
340
,
347
,
352
,
365
on Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passage,
46
and payroll tax cut two-month extension (December 2011),
365
,
369
and Schumer,
77
and sequestration trigger,
340
,
344
,
346
and Simpson-Bowles commission,
36
–37,
41
,
42
–43
on stimulus package,
11
and White House staff/Republican leadership negotiations on debt crisis (July 2011),
260
,
264
,
266
Biden working group on long-term debt resolution
May 5, 2011 meeting,
111
–19
May 10, 2011 meeting,
120
May 12, 2011 meeting,
120
–21
May 24, 2011 meeting,
121
–24
May 26, 2011 meeting,
124
–25
June 9, 2011 meeting,
125
–26
June 4, 2011 meeting,
128
–29
June 15, 2011 meeting,
129
–30
June 21, 2011 meeting,
136
–37
June 22, 2011 meeting,
140
–43
and Boehner-Obama negotiations (June-July 2011),
143
,
178
collapse of,
143
,
146
,
148
,
150
–51,
153
–54,
192
,
228
Democratic huddles,
127
,
129
,
130
,
131
,
136
,
148
–49
and Obama,
127
,
128
,
131
,
136
,
146
,
160
preparation of Biden for,
110
–11
returns to framework of,
180
,
191
,
192
,
193
,
194
,
195
,
203
,
213
,
216
,
220
,
221
,
243
Blankfein, Lloyd,
81
Boehner, John,
6
–7
and American Jobs Act payroll tax cut proposal,
358
author interview with,
xiii
,
134
,
143
,
158
,
159
,
166
,
168
,
171
,
186
,
217
,
229
,
237
,
239
,
245
,
250
,
277
,
295
,
299
,
301
,
302
,
311
,
312
,
315
,
321
,
359
,
363
,
374
–77,
379
–80
and balanced budget amendment,
347
and Biden,
350
–52
and Biden working group,
119
,
132
,
143
,
154
and Bush tax cut extension,
69
,
74
,
146
and business community,
52
–53
and Cantor,
143
,
150
–51,
154
,
155
,
167
,
177
–78,
184
,
211
–12,
226
,
229
,
234
,
244
,
245
,
247
–48,
267
–68,
288
,
309
,
367
,
376
,
377
,
379
,
380
and congressional plan on debt ceiling crisis (July 2011),
304
–15,
317
–19,
321
–25,
329
,
330
–31,
333
,
337
,
347
–55
and continuing resolutions on the budget,
92
–95