The White House hit back Thursday afternoon at Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) accusation that President Obama is threatening a government shutdown by suggesting he’ll veto the House GOP’s appropriations proposals.
“We were pleased to see Speaker Boehner hold a press conference today to announce the end of the Republican strategy of governing by crisis. We look forward to seeing Republicans in Congress act responsibly to pay the bills they have already racked up, along with funding the government to avoid a government shutdown,” said White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage in a statement provided to reporters.
It’s rare that the White House responds to Boehner in this manner but aides are flabbergasted with the Speaker’s claim about Obama given that he and his GOP colleagues have blocked budget negotiations. As they see it, it amounts to saying anything less than an embrace of the Paul Ryan budget amounts to a government shutdown threat.
“The administration made one thing very clear this week: we simply won’t sign into law the Republican budget, which would drastically slash the investments the middle class, seniors and our economic growth depend on,” Brundage continued. “The President’s policies, including signing into law over $2.5 trillion of deficit reduction, have contributed to the most rapid decline in the deficit since World War II. It’s time for Speaker Boehner to match his promises of an end to manufactured crises with actions, and to stop obstructing the regular order budget process so we can move forward to find a sensible solution to our budget challenges.”
