House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) provided an interesting take on bipartisanship today, saying that “when it comes to bipartisan legislation you’ve got to look at the balance. If the balance leans in our direction, and things that we believe in, I would think that we would support it.”
Boehner gave an interview to NPR’s Morning Edition that perhaps shed some light on why achieving bipartisanship legislation has been so difficult.
He said that the Republicans have “reached out, over the last year, and we’re going to continue to reach out. But there’s been no reaching back from the White House or from our Democrat colleagues.”
On the other hand, Boehner said he’s not concerned that trying to reach bipartisan solutions will alienate the conservative base, because “just because you sit down to work with Democrats doesn’t mean you’re going to throw your principles out the window.”
So, he said, if the Democrats have any hope of achieving bipartisan legislation on anything, they have to…throw their principles out the window>?
When it comes to bipartisan legislation you’ve got to look at the balance. If the balance leans in our direction, and things that we believe in, I would think that we would support it. But if we’re going to continue to bail out the states, and continue to pour money into silly government programs that don’t create jobs, I’m going to have a very difficult time supporting it.
