House Speaker John Boehner mocked President Barack Obama's stance on Thursday on negotiating over the debt ceiling ... by invoking Vladimir Putin.
"While the president is happy to negotiate with Vladimir Putin, he won’t engage with Congress," Boehner said at a press conference with reporters.
Boehner's press conference followed the release of a video released by his office, which castigates Obama for being willing to negotiate with Putin over a deal on Syria's chemical weapons stockpile but not willing to negotiate with House Republicans over raising the debt ceiling.
The video splices together clips of members of the Obama administration saying they won't negotiate over the debt ceiling, along with clips of them praising Putin for negotiating on Syria.
"Why is the Obama administration willing to negotiate with Putin on Syria, but not with Congress to address Washington's spending problem?" the video says.
The video and the comments come as House and Senate Republicans are bickering in a bit of chaos over their own position on the upcoming budget battles. Boehner officially announced on Wednesday that he would bring to the floor a bill to avert a government shutdown that strips funding for the Affordable Care Act.
That bill has no chance of passing the Senate — something the "defund" movement's face, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) admitted on Wednesday. He also encouraged House Republicans to "stand firm," something that enraged them.
The Republican plan for the debt ceiling includes demands of trading a one-year delay in Obamacare for a one-year hike in the debt ceiling — something that is also unlikely to pass the Senate.
The debt ceiling legislation will also include conservative goals like instructions for tax reform and urging the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Here's the video:
