George Stephanopoulous - Interview with John Boehner lyrics

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's turn to the Speaker of the House, John Boehner. He's with us right here live in the studio. And I want to talk about the government shutdown. But first, of course, you've been briefed on these operations. I know you can't release any details, but are you confident this was a success? BOEHNER: I'm very confident that both of these efforts were successful. I'm going to congratulate all of those in the U.S. intelligence operations, our troops, FBI, all those who were involved. Listen, the threat of al Qaeda and their affiliates remains. And America has continued to be vigilant. And this is a great example of our dedicated forces on the security side, intelligence side, and our military and their capability to track these people down. STEPHANOPOULOS; And it happened despite the government shutdown. We're now in day six of the government shutdown, as you know. And Democrats have been saying that you are the man, you are the one man in Washington who has the power to reopen the government. All you have to do is schedule a vote for a clean government funding resolution. Will you do that? BOEHNER: George, the House has pa**ed four bills to keep the government open and to provide fairness to the American people under Obamacare. And even after the Senate has rejected -- they've rejected all four of them. And even after the four rejections, we asked to sit down with the Senate and have a conversation. They said, no. Listen, Obamacare is a law that's going to raise the cost of health insurance premiums and make it almost impossible for employers to hire new people. It's a law the American people do not want and cannot afford. STEPHANOPOULOS: It's also the law of the land, as you've said on many occasions. It's also you've tried many, many times to defund it. It's simply not working. So, I guess the answer to my question is-- BOEHNER: But why wouldn't the president provide fairness to the American people? Giving exemptions and waivers to all kinds of groups and people, but he hasn't given one to the American people, who are going to suffer under this law. STEPHANOPOULOS: He has not, perhaps, but I take it from your answer that you're not prepared to schedule a clean bill on government funding. BOEHNER: There are not the votes in the House to pa** a clean CR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you sure that's true? The Democrats say they have 195 Democrats who have already signed a letter saying that they would vote it. 21 Republicans, 21 House Republicans have said they are for it, as well. And Democrats are confident, you add those Republicans to the Democrats, a few more would come along and they have the votes. BOEHNER: The American people expect in Washington, when we have a crisis like this, that the leaders will sit down and have a conversation. I told my members the other day, there may be a back room somewhere, but there's nobody in it. We're interested in having a conversation about how we open the government and how we begin to pay our bills. But it begins with a simple conversation. STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, you had a conversation at the White House. The Democrats, including Senate Democrat Harry Reid, has said he's more than willing to have a conference, more than willing to have a negotiation, but not under the threat of a government shutdown, not under the threat of a default. BOEHNER: So it's my way or the highway. That's what he's saying. Complete surrender and then we'll talk to you. STEPHANOPOULOS: That's not-- BOEHNER: It's about having a conversation. I gave the Senate majority leader some advice at the White House about how to proceed. I gave him some advice over a week ago about how to avert this. And yet they refuse to do it. STEPHANOPOULOS: But Mr. Speaker, he says -- and he said it publicly on many occasions, that you came to him back in July and offered to pa** a clean government funding resolution, no Obamacare amendments, that was $70 billion below what the Senate wanted. They accepted it. And now, you've reneged on that offer. BOEHNER: No, clearly there was a conversation about doing this. STEPHANOPOULOS: Several conversations. BOEHNER: Several. But-- STEPHANOPOULOS: And you offered a clean resolution. BOEHNER: But I and my members decided the threat of Obamacare and what was happening was so important that it was time for us to take a stand. And we took a stand. STEPHANOPOULOS: Did you decide it or was it decided for you? BOEHNER: I, working with my members, decided to do this in a unified way. George, I have 233 Republicans in the House. And you've never seen a more dedicated group of people who are thoroughly concerned about the future of our country. They believe that Obamacare, all these regulations coming out of the administration, are threatening the future for our kids and our grandkids. It is time for us to stand and fight. STEPHANOPOULOS: But Mr. Speaker, this is clearly not what you want. I want to go back to several points you've made about this over the last few -- here you were right after the election with Diane Sawyer. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BOEHNER: It's pretty clear that the president was re-elected. Obamacare is the law of the land. If we were to put Obamacare into the CR and send it over to the Senate, we were risking shutting down the government. That is not our goal. (END VIDEO CLIP) STEPHANOPOULOS: So right there, you say that's not your goal. You don't want to put Obamacare on the CR. You did it. BOEHNER: George, I have made it clear to my colleagues. I don't want to shut the government down. We voted to keep the government open. STEPHANOPOULOS: You also said you didn't want to put Obamacare on the CR. BOEHNER: But providing -- providing fairness to the American people, under Obamacare, is -- all we're asking for. My goodness. They give big businesses a waiver. They give all these unions a waiver. And yet they're forcing the American people to buy a product, buy a product that they do not want and cannot afford. STEPHANOPOULOS: It is -- the president has pointed out, it's the law of the land. It has been upheld by the Supreme Court. It was ratified in a presidential election. And perhaps more important to the moment right now, you have tried this several times, it hasn't worked. So, there's no change in your position? BOEHNER: Absolutely not. It's time for us to sit down and have a conversation. That's what the American people expect. That's what I've offered for the last ten days. Let's sit down and have a conversation. You know, we've had conversations before. Why can't we have one here? STEPHANOPOULOS: Even some of your own members are saying this is not your strategy. One of your colleagues, Republican Congressman Devin Nunes of California, was asked, what is the House strategy right now? He said, "listen, you really have to call Cruz, Senator Ted Cruz. I'm not even joking about that. He is the one that set up the strategy." Even one of your own colleagues is saying this is not your strategy, Speaker Boehner. It's the strategy of Senator Ted Cruz and other House (inaudible). BOEHNER: I thought the fight would be over the debt ceiling. But you know, working with my members, they decided, well, let's do it now. And the fact is, this fight was going to come, one way or the other. We're in the fight. We don't want to shut the government down. We've pa**ed bills to pay the troops. We have pa**ed bills to make sure the federal employees know that they're going to be paid throughout this. We pa**ed other bills. STEPHANOPOULOS: Why should the federal government employees get paid if they're not going to work? Wouldn't it be better for them to come to work and have the government open? BOEHNER: The last 17 times the government was shut down, the federal employees were paid for the time they were off. This is all about fairness. It's not their fault that the leaders in Washington won't sit down and have a conversation. So why should they be punished? STEPHANOPOULOS: You told me a couple of years ago that members of Congress shouldn't be paid during government shutdowns. Yet, they are being paid. BOEHNER: Listen, I've asked my pay to be withheld during this. And so have a lot of my colleagues. STEPHANOPOULOS: How is this going to end? You're clearly not budging right now, even though you are taking -- even though polls show that most Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown right now. How long is it going to go on? Is the government going to stay shut down until we reach the debt limit deadline of October 17th? BOEHNER: Listen, the debt limit is right around the corner. The president is saying, I won't negotiate. I won't have a conversation. Even though, President Reagan negotiated with Democrats who controlled the Congress back then. Even though President George Herbert Walker Bush had a conversation about raising the debt limit. During the Clinton administration, there were three fights over the debt limit. You and I participated in several of those. And even President Obama himself in 2011, went through a negotiation. Now, he's saying no. I'm not going to do this. I'm going to tell you what, George. The nation's credit is at risk because of the administration's refusal to sit down and have a conversation. STEPHANOPOULOS: They're saying it's at risk because of your refusal to pa** a clean debt limit. There have been some reports-- BOEHNER: We're not going to pa** a clean debt limit increase. STEPHANOPOULOS: Under no circumstances? BOEHNER: I told the president, there's no way we're going to pa** one. The votes are not in the House to pa** a clean debt limit. And the president is risking default by not having a conversation with us. STEPHANOPOULOS: So under no circumstances will you pa** a clean debt limit? BOEHNER: We're not going down that path. It is time to deal with America's problems. How can you raise the debt limit and do nothing about the underlying problem? George, we've spent more than what we've brought in for 55 of the last 60 years. This year, the federal government will have more revenue than any year in the history of our country, and yet we're still going to have a nearly $700 billion budget deficit. We're squandering the future for our kids and our grandkids, by not dealing with this problem. STEPHANOPOULOS: The deficit, as you know, has been coming down this year, but I want to press you on this issue of the risks of not pa**ing a clean debt limit. The Treasury Department put out a report just the other day, where they said it would be unprecedented and catastrophic, that would be the impact of failing to pa** a debt limit. They're going to say, credit markets could freeze. The value of the dollar could plummet. U.S. interest rates could skyrocket. The negative spillovers could reverberate around the world, and there might be a financial crisis and recession that could echo the events of 2008 or worse. Do you agree with that a**essment? BOEHNER: I do. And the president is putting the nation at risk by his refusal to sit down and have a conversation. STEPHANOPOULOS: As -- we're going to go back on this. He says you're putting it at risk by refusing to pa** a clean debt limit, so just let me -- let me press that, because there have been some reports that you have told your own members that you would be willing to put a debt limit on the floor that would pa** with Democratic votes, even if it didn't get a majority of the Republican caucus. Is that no longer true? BOEHNER: My goal here is not to have the United States default on their debt. My goal here is to have a serious conversation about those things that are driving the deficit and driving the debt up. And the president's refusal to sit down and have a conversation about this is putting our nation at risk of default. STEPHANOPOULOS: So are you saying that if he continues to refuse to negotiate, the country is going to default? BOEHNER: That's the path we're on. The president canceled his trip to Asia. I a**umed -- well, maybe he wants to have a conversation. I decided to stay here in Washington this weekend. He knows what my phone number is. All he has to do is call. STEPHANOPOULOS: So it's October 17th, 8:00 p.m. The clock is ticking towards midnight. The country is scheduled to run out of money, won't be able to pay its bills anymore. What do you do in that moment? BOEHNER: No family in America can spend more than what it brings in for 55 of the last 60 years. No family or business in America can survive a $700 billion budget deficit in one year. It is time for us to deal with our underlying spending problems. I'm willing to sit down and have a conversation with the president. But his refusal to negotiate is putting our country at risk. STEPHANOPOULOS: So the clock is ticking on October 17th. You're not going to put that bill on the floor? BOEHNER: I want to deal with our underlying problem. STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes or no, would you put that bill on the floor? BOEHNER: I don't want the United States to default on its debt. But I'm not going to raise the debt limit without a serious conversation about dealing with problems that are driving the debt up. It would be irresponsible of me to do this. STEPHANOPOULOS: It's also been reported that you're going to guarantee that we do not default. It sounds like you're not prepared to offer that guarantee, you're not prepared to promise you would actually put the bill on the floor. BOEHNER: I've been willing to sit down with the president and have this conversation. His refusal to negotiate is what's putting the government at risk of default. STEPHANOPOULOS: So you sit down with the president. What would you offer him in that conversation? BOEHNER: Let's look at what's driving the problem. 10,000 baby-boomers like me retiring, every single day. 70,000 this week. 3.5 million this year. And it's not like there's money in Social Security or Medicare. The government, over the last 30 years, have spent it all. And so now, we're in this whipsaw effect. This is only year three. This is going to go on for another 22 years as baby-boomers retire. We know these programs are important to tens of millions of Americans. But if we don't address the underlying problems, they are not sustainable. STEPHANOPOULOS: So you're saying you want a conversation now about changes in Social Security, changes in Medicare, changes in entitlements? Would you be willing to accept what the president has demanded for that kind of a negotiation, having new revenues as part of the discussion? BOEHNER: The president got $850 billion -- $650 billion of new revenues on January the 1st. He got his revenues. Now, it's time to talk about the spending problem. STEPHANOPOULOS: So that's a no? BOEHNER: Very simple. We're not raising taxes. STEPHANOPOULOS: You see, I'm not hearing much new here this morning. I don't think the country is hearing much new here this morning from either the president or from you and House Republicans. How is this going to end? BOEHNER: George, it's going to end when the president decides they'll allow Harry Reid to talk to me, or allow Patty Murray to talk to Paul Ryan. The president just can't sit there and say, I'm not going to negotiate. STEPHANOPOULOS: What the president says is he believes that the consequences of negotiating again over a debt limit and re-creating a cycle of crises are worse. BOEHNER: Every president in modern history has negotiated over a debt limit. Debt limits have been used to force big policy changes in Washington. And guess what, George? They're going to be used again. STEPHANOPOULOS: Is there a way for this to be solved in some kind of parallel tracks? Both of you say you're not going to be giving in on your conditions, but basically, you both do. BOEHNER: George, I'm ready for the phone call. I'm ready for a conversation. I'll take anybody on the Democrats' side who wants to seriously sit down and begin to work out this problem. I'm a reasonable guy. I'm a reasonable guy. But I didn't come to Washington to be a congressman. I came here to do something on behalf of my country. STEPHANOPOULOS: So bottom line, you're saying this is your absolute position. If the president continues to refuse to negotiate over the debt limit, if Democrats refuse to continue to negotiate over the government shutdown, the government is going to remain closed and the United States is going to default? BOEHNER: The president -- the president, his refusal to talk, is resulting in a possible default on our debt. All he has to do is pick up the phone. This is the most reasonable thing in the world. I think the American people understand, why wouldn't they talk to each other? I'm ready to talk. I've been ready to talk. STEPHANOPOULOS: When is this going to end? BOEHNER: If I knew, I would tell you. STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for your time this morning. BOEHNER: Thank you.