Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has arguably the worst job in Washington. When the House of Representatives returns from August recess on Sept. 9, Boehner will have just 21 days (only nine of them working days) to find a way to pass a fiscal year 2014 government funding resolution. Shortly after that, Boehner will also have to raise the Treasury Department’s borrowing limit, and the wealthy Republican donor class are also pressuring Boehner to pass immigration reform that grants amnesty to current illegal immigrants and expands guest worker programs to create new ones.

First and long

The vast majority of Boehner’s caucus don’t want to pass any of these items, at least not before major concessions from President Obama. On the continuing resolution needed to fund the government, 80 House Republicans singed a letter to Boehner urging him “to affirmatively defund the implementation and enforcement of ObamaCare in any relevant appropriations bills brought to the House floor.” On the debt limit, Boehner himself is still saying Obama must agree to a dollar’s worth of spending cuts for every new dollar in borrowing authority. And while there is consensus among Republicans for expanding high-skill immigration, amnesty for current illegal immigrants, and importing future illegal immigrants through low-skill guest worker programs, is a non-starter.