http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/?hp=44 By JENNIFER EPSTEIN |
10/6/13 9:28 AM EDT
House Speaker John Boehner says there wouldn't be enough votes to pass a "clean" continuing resolution in his chamber, though various counts have put the number of Republicans who'd be willing to join with Democrats at more than 20.
"There are not the votes in the House to pass a clean CR," Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
Pressed on the vote estimates -- including the 190 House Democrats who've said they would support the clean bill -- Boehner insisted that negotiations are necessary.
"The American people expect in Washington when we have a crisis like this, that the leaders will sit down and have a conversation," he said. "I told my members the other day -- there may be a back room somewhere, but there's nobody in it."
Boehner said that statements from President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) insisting that they won't negotiate under threat of a government shutdown or default on U.S. debts would mean yielding on his own positions. "So it's my way or the highway. Complete surrender and then we'll talk to you," he said.
