January 25, 2015
WASHINGTON - The Republican leader of the U.S. House of Representatives said it was "critically important" for the country to improve its infrastructure.
House Speaker John Boehner said Congress is exploring options to pay for repairs, according to an interview aired Sunday night on the CBS program "60 Minutes."
Boehner said he agreed with the White House there was room for bipartisan compromise on the issue of fixing crumbling roads and bridges, but that Congress has not historically opted for an increase in federal gasoline taxes to fund the effort.
With money in the highway trust fund set to run out in May, lawmakers are facing a deadline to fund massive road, bridge and transit projects using alternative means.
Republicans have had difficulty finding a way to fund legislation with a five-year price tag in the range of $75 billion to more than $100 billion.
"We believe that through tax reform, a couple of other options that are being looked at, we can find the funds to fund a long-term highway bill. It's critically important to the country," Boehner said, according to a transcript of the interview.
TACTICS NOT VISION
The Ohio Republican also discussed intra-party disagreements during his "60 Minutes" interview, saying small-government Tea Party activists who have dominated the party in recent years differed with him on strategy and tactics, rather than on a vision.
Tea Party Republican lawmakers pushed a confrontation over Obamacare in 2013, leading to a two-week government shutdown in the hope of derail the president's signature healthcare reform law.
"We continue to work to bring those members along, and they bring them along... But it's always a work in progress," Boehner said.
STATE OF THE UNION RESPONSE
In comments during the interview, conducted with both Boehner and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the wake of President Barack Obama's defiant State of the Union speech last week, the pair declared several of Obama's initiatives dead on arrival.
Obama's proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy and help Americans pay for community college have no chance of gaining traction in Congress, Boehner and McConnell said.
The pair also said they disagreed with Obama's characterization that Congressional action on sanctions against Iran would derail multi-party talks to curb Iran's nuclear program.
"Under the proposal we're considering those enhanced sanctions would only occur if a deal is not reached," McConnell said.
