House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, said that while President Obama might preach bipartisanship, Mr. Obama eventually “finds a way not to come to a solution.”
Mr. McCarthy said there is a history of people in Washington working across party lines, such as former President Reagan and former Speaker Tip O’Neill on tax reform or former President Clinton and former Speaker Newt Gingrich on welfare reform.
But while Mr. Clinton declared the “era of big government” over during the 1990s, Mr. McCarthy said Mr. Obama has acted recently as if he had won the most recent election.
“If you want to work with someone, then let’s sit down, work the legislative process and find a common ground at the end of the day — that’s what we want to see happen,” Mr. McCarthy said Monday on Fox News.
Mr. McCarthy said he doesn’t see negotiations from Mr. Obama’s side, having sat down twice for lunch talking about areas of potential common ground like tax reform “and then he walks out the next day and says he needs tax increases.”
“I think he finds a way not to come to a solution,” he said. “I’ve always thought it’s better to have somebody that’s been a governor to become president because they learn how to work with both sides than the current situation that we have in the White House.”
Mr. McCarthy said that if the Republican-led House and Senate is able to send Mr. Obama legislation, he might then listen to the American public, pledging to challenge the president on issues such as the Keystone XL Pipeline.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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