Cross posted at Plunderbund.
John Boehner makes it perfectly clear that no matter how many GOP ideas the White House incorporates, the Republicans are interested in seeing it defeated in ANY form, even as he admits that most Republicans agree with most of the bill (and yet, he didn't mentioned what these points were as a starting point in the recent health care summit. I know, Boehner, disingenuous? I'm stunned, too!)
From the Hamilton Pulse-Journal:
While Boehner said there are about eight to 10 points in the current health care legislation most Republicans agree with, he said Congress and the president need to find more common ground and not just "have some Republican crumbs sprinkled on top."
Boehner claims that the biggest area of disagreement is a mandate to buy insurance and fining businesses who fail to provide health insurance.
Boehner, who once said that the health care bill would "virtually eliminate Medicare Advantage" (that was, of course, untrue according to the CBO) and publicly decried the cuts in Medicare in the health care bill wants to balance the the budget:
Noting that legislators were able to balance the budget in the latter Clinton years, Boehner said following the event Monday that he believed spending got out of hand after Sept. 11 , when large funds were expended for the Department of Homeland Security and to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, he said none of these three areas could afford to lose funding and said he would rather see cuts made to three "entitlement programs" — Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
"I think they are important programs, but they aren’t sustainable in the long-term," he said. "We need to figure out ways to control that spending."
Boehner specifically cited concerns involving Medicare, which he said would "swell to levels I can’t imagine" as more baby boomers start to retire.
Now John Boehner wants to cut Medicare and Social Security. Sounds like Boehner is signing up on Paul Ryan’s radical budget.