House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, while promising “all options are on the table” for Congress to facilitate the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, revealed that he hasn’t yet had a conversation with President Obama this year.
“I have not,” Boehner replied, when asked if he has “spoken to the president in 2012.” President Obama has reportedly had a very frosty relationship with House Republicans. Obama took some responsibility for the partisanship after the 2012 midterms. “I neglected some things that matter a lot to people, and rightly so: maintaining a bipartisan tone in Washington,” Politico yesterday recalled Obama as saying. “I’m going to redouble my efforts to go back to some of those first principles.
But the White House has also blamed Republicans for the tense relationship. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., lacked “respect” for Obama. “I think it is unprecedented of a leader in the Senate of either party to say the most important goal he has is to make the current president a one-term,” she said.
The White House claims not to worry much about the relationship with Congress. “You guys care much more about this than we do,” he told reporters who asked about the issue, according to the New York Times.
