John Boehner

  • House Republicans are offering to pass legislation to avert a default and end the 11-day partial government shutdown as part of a framework that would include cuts in benefit programs, officials said Friday. Republicans also seek changes in the three-year-old health care law known as Obamacare as part of an end to an impasse that has roiled financial markets and idled 350,000 federal workers. President Barack Obama has insisted he will not negotiate with Republicans over federal spending - or anything else - until the government is reopened and the $16.7 debt limit raised to avert the possibility of default.

    October 10, 2013
  • House Speaker John Boehner says Republicans would vote to extend the government's ability to borrow money for six weeks, but the partial government shutdown would continue.

    October 10, 2013
  • The administration issued new guidance late Wednesday detailing specific steps agencies should take as sequestration now is one-day away. Danny Werfel, OMB's controller, told agency leaders to place "increased scrutiny" around several personnel issues, including new hires, training, travel and conferences.

    February 28, 2013
  • OMB details hundreds of thousands of furloughs and cuts to nearly every agency program. Danny Werfel, OMB controller, said the effective percentage cut to each civilian agency would be about 9 percent and 13 percent for DoD over the next seven months.

    February 08, 2013
  • President Barack Obama is asking Congress for a short-term deficit reduction package of spending cuts and tax revenue that will delay the effective date of steeper automatic cuts now scheduled to kick in on March 1. Obama said the looming cuts would be economically damaging and must be avoided.

    February 05, 2013
  • Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick introduced a bill to extend the pay freeze for federal workers for all of fiscal 2013. The Senate still must pass the bill.

    January 02, 2013
  • In the latest proposals traded back and forth between the White House and Boehner, the President proposed changing the formula the Labor Department uses to measure inflation — which would reduce annual COLAs for Social Security beneficiaries, including federal and military retirees. Federal-employee unions and groups remain worried the COLA proposals are still very much on the table.

    December 18, 2012
  • Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told The Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp that a large number of lawmakers from both parties support a plan that raises more revenues and recognizes that entitlement programs have got to be made viable over the long term.

    November 19, 2012
  • Averting sequestration sits atop the to-do as Congress returns Tuesday from a seven-week election break to a long list of unfinished business.

    November 13, 2012
  • Lawmakers returned to Washington, D.C., this week with a packed agenda. Topping the list of priorities is hammering out final details of a stopgap spending measure to keep the government running beyond the end of the fiscal year -- Sept. 30. Amid the election-year politicking, the list of unfinished business also includes legislation to restructure the financially ailing U.S. Postal Service and a cybersecurity bill that aims to safeguard the nation's critical infrastructure. Perhaps looming largest of all is what Congress plans to do about automatic, across-the-board cuts, known as sequestration, set to take effect Jan. 2. Failure to avert the cuts could send the country over a "fiscal cliff," budget experts warn.

    September 10, 2012
  • The top Republican and Democrat on Capitol Hill have announced an agreement to keep the government running on autopilot for six months when the current budget year ends on Sept. 30. The announcements by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and GOP House Speaker John Boehner are aimed at averting any chance of a government shutdown this fall. The leaders said an official vote on the bill won't come until September.

    July 31, 2012
  • A major goal of this new task force is to break up the comprehensive cyber bill into four separate components each of which could be addressed by an individual bill.

    October 18, 2011
  • The White House and Congress agreed to both a short-term deal and a longer-term one funding the government through 2011 and cutting more than $35 billion. OMB issued new guidance telling agencies to resume normal operations which means feds should report to work as usual.

    April 09, 2011
  • President Obama expects to have an answer Friday morning about whether a shutdown can be averted. Meanwhile agencies have new guidance from OMB on how to prepare to close down their offices. Federal workers vent frustrations and ask questions during a town hall meeting sponsored by Rep. Jim Moran.

    April 08, 2011