Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner tweeted out a video Thursday morning wondering why President Obama is not willing to negotiate with Republicans in Congress on a debt-ceiling deal but was eager to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin to find a political resolution to conflict in Syria.
“POTUS is happy to negotiate w/Vladimir Putin … but won’t work w/Congress on needed deficit reduction,” the Ohio Republican tweeted from @SpeakerBoehner.
The video begins with clips of Mr. Obama, press secretary Jay Carney and other experts saying that the administration will not negotiate on the debt limit. It then, however, flips to more recent clips of the president and Secretary of State John Kerry expressing a desire to engage in “substantive, meaningful negotiations” with Mr. Putin on chemical weapons use in Syria.
The video, which ends with a screen that says “Why is the Obama administration willing to negotiate with Putin on Syria but not with Congress to address Washington’s spending problem?”, also shows Mr. Putin shirtless riding a horse.
Mr. Boehner announced Wednesday that he plans to pass a continuing resolution in the House this week to continue funding the government, but defund Obamacare — something that will not pass the Democratically-controlled Senate.
• Jacqueline Klimas can be reached at jklimas@washingtontimes.com.
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