Conservative GOP Congressman Steve King Knocks Boehner’s Leadership On Spending Fights
Jan 3, 2012 Comments Off Pat Dollard
Sen. Rick Santorum, left, and Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa
One of the most conservative Republicans in the House criticized Speaker John Boehner’s leadership on Monday, suggesting he sacrificed leverage in spending fights because he was afraid of the GOP being blamed for shutting down the government.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a frequent critic of the GOP leadership, said Boehner (R-Ohio) made a decision early on that “we would not be in a position where we would be blamed for shutting down the government.”
Boehner negotiated spending cuts to avert a government shutdown last April, but King and other conservatives said Republicans didn’t get enough in the fight. King in particular has pushed for the House to cut off all funding for the 2010 healthcare law, a demand that GOP leaders dropped.
“That’s the only place where you bring the leverage to this Congress, to take on [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid [D-Nev.] and Barack Obama, is you have to be willing to face a shutdown and you have to have the debate among the American people,” King said in an interview on the conservative Laura Ingraham radio show.
“We have not led in a clear way,” King said. “American people don’t know what House Republicans believe in and they surely don’t know what we’re willing to fight for and I am as disappointed as the public is. I have been trying to generate a fight in this Congress all year. I wanted to draw that line and shut off all funding to ObamaCare — we would have won that fight with the American people.
“I don’t want the shutdown either, but if you are afraid of the shutdown you can’t have the confrontation and you lose every negotiation along the way.”
King also criticized Boehner for his handling of the negotiations over the summer to raise the debt ceiling. Asked if it was Boehner or House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) who was more responsible for setting the tone, King said “it’s clearly Boehner.”
Ingraham defended Boehner in her own appearance on “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday, saying he “did what was right for the country.”
In a separate interview on WMAL in Iowa, King acknowledged he had a “real clear frustration” with Boehner.
“The president has rolled over us too many times,” he said. “I’m just expressing my disappointment.”
At the same time, he tamped down talk of a challenge by Cantor for the Speaker’s post.
“I’m not suggesting such a thing,” King said.
A spokesman for Boehner declined to comment on King’s criticism.
