John Boehner is really, really bad at his job. His own caucus hates his transportation bill. He’s tried three different approaches, each of them worse than the last. His latest iteration would gut federal pensions, which has nothing to do with saving the taxpayer and everything to do with the union-breaking agenda. Transportation Nation:
The shorter bill would also glean about $40 billion from new cuts to federal worker pensions, a move guaranteed to enrage Democrats, especially since the figure appears to be much larger than a $10 billion estimated gap in the bill for the Highway Trust Fund.
The rest of the bill’s policies remain largely the same to the 5-year bill that was scuttled when conservatives also rejected it because of its $260 billion price tag. Republicans do not yet have a total cost figure for the 18-month bill, an aide said.
“The cost” is that federal workers get screwed out of pensions. If Boehner wants to take away his own pension, then let him do so — that would be popular, and populist. But John Boehner is really bad at his job, so I have a feeling this version won’t fly either. Expect a veto threat.
