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| What Now on Debt? ‘God Only Knows,’ Says Boehner | What Now on Debt? ‘God Only Knows,’ Says Boehner |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| WASHINGTON — House Speaker John A. Boehner, in the wake of the embarrassing defeat of his backup plan to avert a fiscal crisis in two short weeks, on Friday called on the Senate and President Obama to find a way out, but added that “God only knows” how Washington is going to get control of its finances. | WASHINGTON — House Speaker John A. Boehner, in the wake of the embarrassing defeat of his backup plan to avert a fiscal crisis in two short weeks, on Friday called on the Senate and President Obama to find a way out, but added that “God only knows” how Washington is going to get control of its finances. |
| With the House headed home for the holidays and the Senate soon to depart, Mr. Boehner gave no hints of a path to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff,” when more than a half trillion dollars in automatic spending cuts and tax increases kick in beginning next month. He said that on Monday, he had delivered his demands to the president for a broad deficit-reduction deal to avoid the crisis. The president delivered his “bottom lines” and told him “he couldn’t go any further.” | With the House headed home for the holidays and the Senate soon to depart, Mr. Boehner gave no hints of a path to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff,” when more than a half trillion dollars in automatic spending cuts and tax increases kick in beginning next month. He said that on Monday, he had delivered his demands to the president for a broad deficit-reduction deal to avoid the crisis. The president delivered his “bottom lines” and told him “he couldn’t go any further.” |
| “Because of the political divide in this country, because of the divide here in Washington, trying to bridge these differences has been difficult,” the speaker said. | “Because of the political divide in this country, because of the divide here in Washington, trying to bridge these differences has been difficult,” the speaker said. |
| He did not blame House Republicans for bringing down his legislation that would have extended Bush-era tax cuts for all but the richest Americans, nor did he say their rebuke was a personal slap at his leadership. | He did not blame House Republicans for bringing down his legislation that would have extended Bush-era tax cuts for all but the richest Americans, nor did he say their rebuke was a personal slap at his leadership. |
| “There was a perception created that that vote last night was going to increase taxes. I disagree with that characterization of that bill,” he said. But, he added, “we had a number of members who just really didn’t want to be perceived as having raised taxes. that was the real issue.” | |
| The speaker insisted that he was not walking away from talks with the president but no talks appeared to be scheduled. | The speaker insisted that he was not walking away from talks with the president but no talks appeared to be scheduled. |
| “We’ve got differences, but the country’s got big spending problems, and we’ve got to get serious about addressing it,” said Mr. Boehner. | “We’ve got differences, but the country’s got big spending problems, and we’ve got to get serious about addressing it,” said Mr. Boehner. |