John Boehner, Eric Cantor call ‘truce’
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John Boehner, Eric Cantor call ‘truce’
The top aides to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Speaker John Boehner are now seeking a truce after a bitter year of behind-the-scenes fighting that pitted the top House Republicans against one another.
Tensions had gotten so bad between the two offices that senior aides decided, for the good of the party and their own bosses, that the rivalry has to be toned down.
The interoffice tensions were so prominent that elected Republican lawmakers were chafing at the public and private tribulations of the ongoing Boehner-Cantor drama — one GOP lawmaker stood up and complained about it in a recent closed-door meeting of House Republicans — and the two operations came to the realization that the constant sparring between their camps could hurt both lawmakers politically.
One top House staffer described the tense relationship as having “reached the breaking point.”
So like two warring nations, Boehner and Cantor aides, with the approval of their bosses, have decided to hit the “reset button.” GOP insiders used different terms to describe the new reality — a truce, a cease-fire, a détente.
Whichever euphemism is used, the two sides are clearly trying to mend their relationship for the good of their Republican majority.
Senior staffers to Boehner and Cantor have met several times during the past month in an attempt to iron out their differences — which range from style to strategy to substance.
The most recent session was held last Wednesday in Boehner aide Mike Sommers’s office, just before the speaker’s staff retreated to a meeting in the Capitol Visitor Center. Sommers and fellow longtime Boehner aides David Schnittger and Michael Steel met with Steve Stombres and Brad Dayspring from Cantor’s office, Republican sources said. The meeting was described by several sources as frank, honest and contentious.
Boehner and Cantor themselves both publicly brush off talk of a poor personal relationship: Last year, they even hugged in public in a humorous attempt to show they get along. But that their staffs are quietly meeting and talking about how to repair the situation marks a new chapter in a running rivalry between the No. 1 and No. 2 House Republicans.
“It’s extremely helpful for everyone to get in a room and talk things out; it’s a way to hit the reset button,” said Dayspring, Cantor’s deputy chief of staff. “The beginning of the year is the perfect time to do that.”
“We have had discussions about how our operations can work better together that’s part of the point of the leadership retreat and the member retreat at the beginning of every year,” added Steel, Boehner’s press secretary.
The recent — and past — tumult between Boehner’s and Cantor’s staffers is the worst-kept secret in town. And overcoming it will certainly be a challenge.
Stombres, Cantor’s chief, and Boehner’s famously taciturn chief of staff Barry Jackson are hardly on speaking terms.
Emissaries from other offices often have to deliver messages between the two camps.
When Boehner and Cantor hold their once-a-week session, they do it without any aides present because they could not agree on who would be allowed to attend.
“It’s gotten totally corrosive,” said a K Street Republican close to the House leadership. “It can get pretty dangerous when everyone is out for themselves.”
But the payroll tax debacle in December pushed the Boehner-Cantor relationship to the edge, especially for their senior aides.
Cantor was upfront in his opposition to the two-month tax holiday, while Boehner — at first — refused to be pinned down. People in Cantor’s camp said Boehner didn’t keep them up to speed on the negotiations. When a deal came together in late December, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was suddenly opting for a two-month extension of the cut, which Boehner and his top lieutenants, including Cantor, vehemently opposed. House Republicans were furious with McConnell, which led to a tense meeting between House and Senate GOP leaders.
“It was pretty bad. There was a lot of unhappy people in that room,” said a Republican source who was there.
In the end, Boehner and House Republicans passed the short-term fix, but the incident led to a vicious round of fingerpointing in GOP circles that is still going on.
Boehner’s office asserts that the speaker was very clear all along on what he could or couldn’t do, and the Ohio Republican wasn’t about to be blamed for allowing taxes to go up for 160 million Americans.
And since then, Boehner allies — lawmakers and aides alike — have had knives out for Cantor’s camp.
The payroll tax debacle, however, is only the most recent episode that reveals the larger political and power struggle between Cantor and Boehner that has been in play since Republicans seized control of the House in November 2010.
With a huge, tea-party-inspired freshman class making up a third of the House Republican Conference, Boehner faced a nearly unmanageable task in trying to control the giant rookie group, and the on-again, off-again rivalry with Cantor didn’t help.
When Boehner cut a deal with Obama on the 2011 budget just months into his speakership, he hailed it as a major win in that it sliced tens of billions of dollars from the federal budget. Cantor and other hard-line conservatives privately grumbled that it wasn’t enough and that Boehner should have shut down the government, even temporarily, to prove his point.
Several months later, Boehner began secret White House talks with Obama over a “grand bargain” to cut trillions from the budget while simultaneously reforming the Tax Code. After Cantor found out about those talks, he stormed out of debt ceiling negotations chaired by Vice President Joe Biden. Boehner included Cantor in later talks with the president, but no deal was reached.
What makes the recent round of Boehner-Cantor truce talks more striking is that, until recently, the two sides publicly denied any rivalry.
“The speaker and the majority leader have a close working relationship, and they are always looking for ways to work better together to help our House Republican team reach our shared goal: a smaller, more accountable government in Washington,” Steel said in a statement to POLITICO.
Dayspring, who was recently promoted to Cantor’s deputy chief of staff, added: “The best decisions are made after robust collaboration and discussion, and this leadership team is united and committed to moving forward on many of the bold ideas that our members have proposed to grow the economy and help small businesses. The 89 new Republican freshmen came here to change the status quo, restore liberty and to limit government, and our entire team is excited to work together in the year ahead to keep making progress on those fronts.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72340.html
John Boehner, Eric Cantor call ‘truce’
The top aides to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Speaker John Boehner are now seeking a truce after a bitter year of behind-the-scenes fighting that pitted the top House Republicans against one another.
Tensions had gotten so bad between the two offices that senior aides decided, for the good of the party and their own bosses, that the rivalry has to be toned down.
The interoffice tensions were so prominent that elected Republican lawmakers were chafing at the public and private tribulations of the ongoing Boehner-Cantor drama — one GOP lawmaker stood up and complained about it in a recent closed-door meeting of House Republicans — and the two operations came to the realization that the constant sparring between their camps could hurt both lawmakers politically.
One top House staffer described the tense relationship as having “reached the breaking point.”
So like two warring nations, Boehner and Cantor aides, with the approval of their bosses, have decided to hit the “reset button.” GOP insiders used different terms to describe the new reality — a truce, a cease-fire, a détente.
Whichever euphemism is used, the two sides are clearly trying to mend their relationship for the good of their Republican majority.
Senior staffers to Boehner and Cantor have met several times during the past month in an attempt to iron out their differences — which range from style to strategy to substance.
The most recent session was held last Wednesday in Boehner aide Mike Sommers’s office, just before the speaker’s staff retreated to a meeting in the Capitol Visitor Center. Sommers and fellow longtime Boehner aides David Schnittger and Michael Steel met with Steve Stombres and Brad Dayspring from Cantor’s office, Republican sources said. The meeting was described by several sources as frank, honest and contentious.
Boehner and Cantor themselves both publicly brush off talk of a poor personal relationship: Last year, they even hugged in public in a humorous attempt to show they get along. But that their staffs are quietly meeting and talking about how to repair the situation marks a new chapter in a running rivalry between the No. 1 and No. 2 House Republicans.
“It’s extremely helpful for everyone to get in a room and talk things out; it’s a way to hit the reset button,” said Dayspring, Cantor’s deputy chief of staff. “The beginning of the year is the perfect time to do that.”
“We have had discussions about how our operations can work better together that’s part of the point of the leadership retreat and the member retreat at the beginning of every year,” added Steel, Boehner’s press secretary.
The recent — and past — tumult between Boehner’s and Cantor’s staffers is the worst-kept secret in town. And overcoming it will certainly be a challenge.
Stombres, Cantor’s chief, and Boehner’s famously taciturn chief of staff Barry Jackson are hardly on speaking terms.
Emissaries from other offices often have to deliver messages between the two camps.
When Boehner and Cantor hold their once-a-week session, they do it without any aides present because they could not agree on who would be allowed to attend.
“It’s gotten totally corrosive,” said a K Street Republican close to the House leadership. “It can get pretty dangerous when everyone is out for themselves.”
But the payroll tax debacle in December pushed the Boehner-Cantor relationship to the edge, especially for their senior aides.
Cantor was upfront in his opposition to the two-month tax holiday, while Boehner — at first — refused to be pinned down. People in Cantor’s camp said Boehner didn’t keep them up to speed on the negotiations. When a deal came together in late December, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was suddenly opting for a two-month extension of the cut, which Boehner and his top lieutenants, including Cantor, vehemently opposed. House Republicans were furious with McConnell, which led to a tense meeting between House and Senate GOP leaders.
“It was pretty bad. There was a lot of unhappy people in that room,” said a Republican source who was there.
In the end, Boehner and House Republicans passed the short-term fix, but the incident led to a vicious round of fingerpointing in GOP circles that is still going on.
Boehner’s office asserts that the speaker was very clear all along on what he could or couldn’t do, and the Ohio Republican wasn’t about to be blamed for allowing taxes to go up for 160 million Americans.
And since then, Boehner allies — lawmakers and aides alike — have had knives out for Cantor’s camp.
The payroll tax debacle, however, is only the most recent episode that reveals the larger political and power struggle between Cantor and Boehner that has been in play since Republicans seized control of the House in November 2010.
With a huge, tea-party-inspired freshman class making up a third of the House Republican Conference, Boehner faced a nearly unmanageable task in trying to control the giant rookie group, and the on-again, off-again rivalry with Cantor didn’t help.
When Boehner cut a deal with Obama on the 2011 budget just months into his speakership, he hailed it as a major win in that it sliced tens of billions of dollars from the federal budget. Cantor and other hard-line conservatives privately grumbled that it wasn’t enough and that Boehner should have shut down the government, even temporarily, to prove his point.
Several months later, Boehner began secret White House talks with Obama over a “grand bargain” to cut trillions from the budget while simultaneously reforming the Tax Code. After Cantor found out about those talks, he stormed out of debt ceiling negotations chaired by Vice President Joe Biden. Boehner included Cantor in later talks with the president, but no deal was reached.
What makes the recent round of Boehner-Cantor truce talks more striking is that, until recently, the two sides publicly denied any rivalry.
“The speaker and the majority leader have a close working relationship, and they are always looking for ways to work better together to help our House Republican team reach our shared goal: a smaller, more accountable government in Washington,” Steel said in a statement to POLITICO.
Dayspring, who was recently promoted to Cantor’s deputy chief of staff, added: “The best decisions are made after robust collaboration and discussion, and this leadership team is united and committed to moving forward on many of the bold ideas that our members have proposed to grow the economy and help small businesses. The 89 new Republican freshmen came here to change the status quo, restore liberty and to limit government, and our entire team is excited to work together in the year ahead to keep making progress on those fronts.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72340.html
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Comments
boehner had been willing to compromise on several things over the last year and he couldn't because cantor, who is beholden to the tea party, would not allow it. had boehner compromised, cantor would have stabbed him in the back and tried to usurp the speakership. as an example of this, just look at cantor's reaction and blaming boehner for the payroll tax extension last time.
so yes, egos kill, but so does blind ambition...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."