John Boehner Upbraids Obama for Comment on GOP and Jobs
Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama shared a 10-minute phone call today, the first conversation between the two leaders in weeks, in which the Ohio Republican took exception to the president’s remarks about GOP efforts on job creation.
Obama called Boehner “to congratulate him on passing free-trade agreements” with Panama, Colombia and South Korea, according to a Boehner news release, and the two leaders also discussed other job-related issues.
During the call, Boehner responded to Obama’s comments made earlier in the day when he told reporters at a news conference, “We have not seen a lot of ideas come forward from Republicans that would indicate that same kind of commitment to job creation.”
In response, Boehner referenced the House Republicans’ jobs plan that was unveiled in May and told Obama, “I want to make sure you have all the facts.”
The brief phone call was the first between the two in nearly three weeks. Boehner told Fox News reporter Greta Van Susteren during an interview Wednesday that he last spoke to Obama “a little over three weeks ago.”
“We’ve had one conversation, I think, since Labor Day, but it’s been several months since we’ve had a real sit-down and a chance to talk about how we move the country forward together,” Boehner said during that interview.