White House seizes on Boehner’s words
By Russell Berman and Ben Geman - 04/26/11 07:59 PM ET
President Obama seized on a rare opening by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and urged Congress to eliminate subsidies for major oil companies.
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“It’s certainly something we ought to be looking at,” Boehner told ABC News on Monday. “We’re in a time when the federal government is short on revenues. We need to control spending, but we need to have revenues to keep the government moving. And they ought to be paying their fair share.”
The comments marked a shift both on substantive and rhetorical grounds for Boehner, who is fond of reminding reporters that “Washington doesn’t have a revenue problem, Washington has a spending problem.”
Democrats pounced quickly. In his letter, Obama said he was “heartened” by Boehner’s openness, and called for lawmakers to redirect $4 billion in tax breaks to investments in clean-energy development. Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking Senate Democrat, and Rep. Sandy Levin (Mich.), the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, also released statements noting Boehner’s comments.
“It is almost too good to be true, but gas hitting $4 per gallon seems to have finally caused Speaker Boehner to see the light on the insanity of providing subsidies to profit-soaked Big Oil companies,” Schumer said.more...
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/157895-seeing-opening-white-house-pounces-on-boehners-words-
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