The Hill News

It’s been a long and hard week for embattled House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Caught between a rock and a hard place and negotiating against his political best interests to kowtow to the extremists in his party who are determined to shut down the government, Boehner has allowed the budget debate to move from spending cuts to extreme policy riders that have little to do with budgeting.

Negotiations have stalled over policy riders regarding “women’s health and clean air,” says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). This is problematic for Boehner. He’s trying to achieve historic spending cuts and avert a government shutdown â€" having told his members that “Democrats will win” if the government closes its doors. Yet he can’t deter the extremists from insisting on including extreme policy riders to block air pollution standards and other items in the CR.

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