Things are getting a bit tense in the Republican caucus today. The plan put forward by Speaker of the House John Boehner wasn’t that popular to begin with, but it took a major hit after a Congressional Budget Office analysis concluded that it cuts drastically less than a rival plan proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Now, after delaying a vote on his bill while he makes some changes, Boehner has started to get a bit testy with his wayward caucus. As ABC News reports:
>House Speaker John Boehner is cracking the whip.
“Get your ass in line,” Boehner demanded at a closed-door meeting of the entire House Republican conference this morning. “I can’t do this job unless you are behind me.”
Boehner wasn’t the only one getting crotchety. Senator John McCain, who does crotchety better than anyone else, took to the Senate floor to scold some of the young freshmen Senators who are sticking to their unrealistic demand that the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution has to be passed before they’ll vote to raise the debt ceiling:
“What is really amazing about this is that some members are believing that we can pass a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution in this body with its present representation — and that is foolish,” he said. “That is worse than foolish. That is deceiving many of our constituents.” ….
“That is not fair to the American people, to hold out and say we won’t agree to raising the debt limit until we pass a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution,” McCain said. “It’s unfair, it’s bizarre. And maybe some people [who] have only been in this body for six or seven months or so really believe it.”
You damn kids, with your iPads and your tamagotchis and your constitutional amendments.
