http://thehill.com/policy/finance/234247-boehner-i-think-i-can-lead-conservatives-in-house-gop-caucusBy Rebecca Shabad - 03/01/15 11:03 AM EST
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Sunday said he thinks he can lead conservative members of his caucus who disagree with him on tactics to fight President Obama's executive orders on immigration.
In a live interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Boehner was asked if he can continue leading those members as Speaker.
“I think so. I’m not going to suggest it’s easy, because it’s not,” he said.
“We do have some members who disagree from time to time over the tactics that we decide to employ,” Boehner added. “Republicans are united that the president has far exceeded his constitutional authority.”
Asked if he likes his job as Speaker, Boehner said, “Most days. Friday wasn’t a whole lot of fun… It was just messy.”
Boehner was referring to a major defeat of his initial plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through March 19. The House had voted earlier to form a conference with the Senate to hammer out differences over attaching immigration provisions to the funding bill.
On Friday evening, the vote for a three-week funding bill failed in a 203-224 vote after conservatives balked at the strategy and Democrats whipped against it, hoping for a “clean” bill funding DHS through September.
The House later passed a bill funding DHS for only one week.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested in a letter to Democrats Friday that she had struck a deal with GOP leaders to bring the full-year spending bill up for a vote this week. Boehner appeared to deny those rumors, which other GOP leaders had also rejected this weekend.
“The promise I made to Ms. Pelosi is the same promise I made to Republicans that we would follow regular order. The bill is back in the Senate. We’ve asked for a conference with the Senate,” Boehner said Sunday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has scheduled a vote to advance the bill to move to conference for Monday afternoon, but Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has already promised to block it.
“If they vote, in fact, not to go to conference, this bill may be coming back to the House,” said Boehner, who didn’t detail his plan to avoid a DHS shutdown next Friday.
If Boehner brings the “clean” full-year DHS funding bill up for a vote without immigration riders attached, there’s been chatter among conservatives about a possible coup to oust Boehner as Speaker.
Asked which party Boehner likes dealing with more, he said, “I like dealing with both parties.”
