OBAMA ADAMANT ON RAISING TAXES...

Boehner walks..

Why do Democrats always want to raise taxes and cut spending over years? If you don't have the money today cut spending now, not years from now. Stop borrowing 40% of your debt. If Congress continues down this path America will become another Greece. I'm not an economist, however you don't need a PHD in economics to know if you don't have the money you don't borrow to spend money you can't afford to pay back. It's common sense...Or when you get elected to manage the nations business do you lose your common sense?   It seems John's common sense is doing well. My respect for John Boehner went up 10 times, I had been concerned that he would fold and give in to Obama. This is Boehner’s letter to his colleagues (PDF) in the House explaining what happened. be ###

Boehner cuts off debt talks with Obama
By Russell Berman

House Republican leaders have called off negotiations with the White House over a broad deficit reduction deal tied to an increase in the federal debt limit and will begin exclusive talks with Senate leaders to avert a government default on Aug. 2, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced Friday. Boehner told House Republicans in a letter that President Obama is “adamant” about raising taxes and would not agree to “fundamental changes” to entitlement programs. The Democratic leaders of the House and Senate have not been participants in the conversations I and [Majority Leader Eric] Cantor have had with the White House; nor have the Republican leaders of the Senate,” Boehner said. “But I believe there is a shared commitment on both sides of the aisle to producing legislation that will serve the best interests of our country in the days ahead--legislation that reflects the will of the American people, consistent with the principles of the Cut, Cap and Balance Act that pass the House with bipartisan support this week.”

In a briefing for reporters, GOP leadership aides said Boehner was still committed to his long-held conditions for raising the debt limit: that spending cuts exceed the amount of borrowing authority and that there be no tax increases. That could mean that a fall-back plan hatched by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), which includes no required spending cuts, would need to be altered.  Read the full story here.