In a press conference this morning, the Speaker of the House tiptoed around questions about policy riders that have become real problems for the passage of a short-term or long term measure to fund the government. At one point, he flat-out denied that policy riders on the Clean Air Act, defunding Planned Parenthood, and restricting abortion funding in the District of Columbia, were the cause of the impasse.
“There’s nothing in here that’s any deal-breaker,” said Boehner.
Have the policy riders become the stumbling block?
“They have not,” said Boehner. “There is no agreement on the number. There are a number of issues on the table, and any attempt to narrow this down to one or two would just not be accurate.”
This is the exact opposite of what Democrats are saying – more about that shortly.
One reporter asked Boehner if there was hypocrisy on display – Paul Ryan’s budget would turn Medicaid into a federalist block grant program, but the CR would restrict D.C.’s abortion policy. Boehner raised his eyebrows.
“That sounds like apples and oranges to me,” he said.
