Problems for Boehner

Sen. Chuck Schumer stated on Monday that Speaker John Boehner was “tying himself in a pretzel” because of the payroll tax extension passed by the Senate. Schumet stated that Boehner had initially agreed with the deal, just to back away in the last minute.

“Trying to negotiate with Speaker Boehner is like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall,” Schumer said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “He keeps moving the goal posts back because he can’t control his caucus - they are running off a cliff, and he is following.”

The New York Democrat said Boehner was a “decent guy”, but pointed out that President Barack Obama had made enough compromises with the Republicans already.

“On Friday, Speaker Boehner said, ‘We can get this passed. All you have to do is put the Keystone pipeline in.’ We swallowed hard and we did,” Schumer said. ”You can’t blame the president - every time he tries to negotiate and move three quarters in their direction, they can’t take yes for an answer.”

Schumer said that Boehner’s plans were already “out of control,” thus making it impossible to negotiate with him.

“President Obama, his natural instinct is to be bipartisan. He tried and tried and tried, and got burnt and burnt and burn. Speaker Boehner is a decent guy… but he has a caucus that is out of control,” he said. “He is afraid to buck them. Sooner or later he will have to throw up his hands and say, ‘I cannot listen to these people all the time.’”

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