Mitch McConnell
doesn't have John Boehner's back (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Via Greg Sargent, CNN's Dana Bash
reports Senate Republicans are continuing to push their House colleagues to approve the bipartisan deal extending the payroll tax cut:
“The House Republicans have painted themselves into a corner. They are on their own,” a Senate GOP leadership aide told CNN.
“This is a lose — lose situation for us. They’ve let the Democrats get the messaging advantage and more specifically we’ve turned one of our key issues on its head. The Republicans look like they are the ones blocking tax relief,” said the Senate GOP leadership aide, who also called it “inexcusable.”...
...a second senior GOP Senate aide told CNN Republicans should be happy because they got several important concessions from Democrats, including one relating to the controversial Keystone Pipeline.
“The House Republicans pulled defeat from the jaws of victory,” said the senior GOP Senate aide.
It's yet another reason why House Republicans need to come to grips with the fact that the only way the payroll tax cut will be extended is if they vote for the bipartisan Senate deal. Any other course of action is guaranteed to kill it.