Transcripts For WMPT Frontline 20130213

The federal government. We call the film cliffhanger. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontline is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. And by the frontline journalism fund, with a grant from scott nathan and laura debonis. Polls open across the. Its going to be a fierce battle for control of the house and the senate. One of the most closely watched Midterm Elections in years. Decision day, voters across america head to the polls for Midterm Elections, with control of congress hanging in the balance. 435 house seats are in contention. And on top of that, 37 senate races and 37 governors races will also be decided today. Narrator november 2010. President barack obama anxiously waited for the Midterm Election results. You cant understand what happened in the budget crisis that ensued, and that still hovers, without understanding the 2010 elections, because thats the whole deal. An historic election for the Republican Party. Narrator and later that evening. Its a whole new political world for the president. Narrator he knew the worst. A whole new day in washington. Well, it was obviously a sobering outcome, the midterm. He was very unhappy and sad about the loss. We had a meeting at the white house, and the president began by saying, we got our butts kicked, and theres no doubt about it. Now the republicans back in power in the house of representatives. Narrator his party had decisively lost the United States house of representatives. Democrats are nursing a major midterm haover. Narrator inside the white house, they knew things were about to change. Once you change power on the capitol hill, it changes how the other side of pennsylvania deals with it. Who are the players, whats possible, whether they want to get anything done, whether they even want to work with you. A lot of things. The calculus gets reconfigured dramatically, quickly. New year, new congress, new strategy. Day one in congress, sworn in. Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the United States. Narrator 87 new republican freshmen came to the capitol, armed with revolutionary fervor. I do congratulations. Narrator it wasnt going to be business as usual. I think the 87 came here with the idea to change washington. There was a tremendous amount of energy when we first got here. Next hour, members will begin reading the constitution. We the people. Narrator from the beginning, they were unorthodox. For the first time ever, they took turns reading aloud the constitution of the United States in the house chamber. The Congress Shall have power to lay and collect taxes. To coin money, regulate the value thereof. To raise and support armies. These were not people who spent 25 years in politics. In fact, that was a big strike against you. They were elected not to sell out the way so many politicians had done, that they were elected to speak truth to power. The right of citizens of the United States to vote. They came into office with the sounds of the tea party, the concerns of the tea party, their reaction to obamas massive overspending and a rejection of eight years of bush. Not just the cost of wars and occupation, but the complete disregard of cost of government as an issue. No person shall be elected to the office. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We came not to do the same they over and over, to change washington, to change that conversation. In the year of our lord, 1787. Narrator but to change washington, the freshmen would first have to deal with their own leader, the consummate Political Insider the new speaker of the house, john boehner. I now pass this gavel and the sacred trust that goes with it to the new speaker. God bless you, Speaker Boehner. He is a career politician, ohioan, Hard Scrabble upbringing. Arrived in 1990, was part of the gang that went after the democrats over the bank scandals. Rose to power, became a dealmaker. Narrator boehner had served ten terms in the congress, carefully working his way up the leadership ladder. John boehner regards himself as an institutionalist, a guy who really loves, reveres even, the house of representatives. Narrator but now, boehner would have to lead a class of insurgents. I dont think he knew what had fallen into his lap. I dont think he recognized that this was going to be such a hard ride. House republicans in the 112th congress plotted strategy. Narrator the week after they were sworn in, boehner and the House Republicans headed to a private retreat in baltimore. Two and a half days of presentations. Narrator they came together to bond and build a strategy. In baltimore, we were kind of laying out the plan and what we were going to have to tackle over the course of the next congress, over the course of the next two years. Narrator the Star Attraction in baltimore was eric cantor, boehners lieutenant, heir apparent and political rival. Well, cantor is more in tune with the newer Republican Party than john boehner. Hes a very ambitious politician, a skilled operator, and an operator, and somebody whose ambitions to be the speaker or to be the republican leader have been evident from the smart. Raising taxes is not what we need right now. Narrator cantor had a legendary reputation with the new members. Hed been a thorn in president obamas side since the beginning of the administration. Cantor realized that obama was so popular because he convinced people that he was going to change washington and he was going to end the partisanship. Cantor realized that by denying that to obama, he could hurt him. Narrator cantor had rallied House Republicans to oppose president obamas first major piece of legislation the stimulus package. Eric cantor sent out an email. Said not that im voting against it. Eric cantors email is were against this. Their leadership told the members were not for any of it. No matter what it is no, just say no. On this vote, the yeas are. Narrator the final stimulus bill passed the house without a single republican vote. The conference report is adopted. It was cantor who engineered that unanimous no vote. And seeing they could all hold together on this gave them a lot of confidence and a lot of comfort. Narrator it was a strategy that cantor had used again and again during the first two years of obamas presidency. And at the baltimore retreat, cantor promised the new republicans he would continue to play hardball with the white house. Eric cantor appealed to the most militant feelings in the caucus. Cantor proposes that they do something which had not been done before, which is to use the debt ceiling vote for maximum leverage and threatened to throw the country into default. Narrator without raising the debt ceiling, the government would be unable to pay its bills. Cantor saw the threat of a no vote as leverage to force the president to accept dramatic spending cuts. You always look for these moments when the president has to have something passed. But the debt ceiling represents the equivalent of a massive fiscal heart attack. Narrator cantor told them no president could ignore the threat. It has to be done. Its essential. If you dont raise the debt limit, you can no longer borrow, you cant pay your bills. You default. Narrator the new republicans got the message. In other words, look guys, as a team we recognize that this is a leverage point. Trust us and were going to use it so that you fulfill your Campaign Promises. Narrator majority leader cantor had laid out an approach that would put the new congress in direct conflict with the white house. It was clear the republicans were going to try to extract some price. And i think the question was, how significant would that price be . And how unyielding would the republicans be in order to get it . Narrator cantor thought he could count on the new members because he had worked hard to get them elected. America is at a crossroads, and washington remains out of touch. There is a better way, and a new team is ready to bring america back. Eric cantor, kevin mccarthy, paul ryan, joined by common sense conservatives. Narrator cantor had teamed up with his closest allies to form their own Political Action committee. Together they are the young guns. This is the young guns. They have a book. They have a website. Theyre the new face of the Republican Party, and as mccarthy told me, paul is the brains, mccarthy is the strategist, cantor is the leader. Narrator the first order of business was for the young guns to prepare the new republicans for the ways of washington. Paul ryan took the lead. Paul ryan essentially became a professor, and on tuesday, wednesday and thursday nights he would teach class. He was teaching them, and he was a good professor. And he had very willing students in these 87 freshmen. The nations fiscal trajectory is simply not sustainable. Narrator he outlined his big idea the path to prosperity, the name hed given to a startling Budget Proposal. Well, paul ryan is a very talented person. From a budget perspective and a number crunching perspective, he gets it. He built a budget that was the best way to bring some of that fiscal sanity back in washington. Narrator ryans legislation called for cutting spending, lowering taxes, repealing obamas health law, even a partial privatization of medicare. A manifesto that would return the country to eisenhowerera levels of government spending. There would be no more room for any discretionary program, other than defense, if this whole thing were phased in. I mean, its an incredibly austere document. Republicans got themselves hitched this afternoon to the paul ryan budget. A sweeping Budget Proposal from congressman paul ryan. Narrator at the white house, the president saw ryans budget as a direct assault. Budget plan want to trim 6 trillion. Narrator he decided to counterattack. President obama will deliver a speech on fiscal policy. They had this idea, that theyd give this speech, a powerful fullthroated defense of his view of the fiscal situation. President obama will share his plans in a speech at George Washington university. Narrator the president wanted the speech to take on ryans budget. The decision was made that we had to frame this in a very aggressive way about what we wanted and what the president believed in. President obama will talk about his plans to reduce the National Debt during a speech. Narrator but in their haste to put the event together, the white house staff made a crucial error. As they gathered washingtons alist to hear the speech, someone they were not expecting showed up paul ryan was given a front row seat. They had done what you normally do on one of these speeches, is they invited the congressional leaders. And somehow it didnt filter up to the top who just was. Who was going to be there. Narrator obamas chief of staff bill daley was one of the first to notice. When i saw him in the room, i thought oh, my god. So, in paul ryans mind and he told me this he goes to the George Washington University Speech thinking, maybe this is the moment where, after weve laid out our negotiating positions, we start to come together a bit. Thats what he thinks hes stepping into. Narrator daley tried to warn the president , but it was too late. Obama, with the lights in his eyes they say, unable to see whos directly in front of him, just launches into a blistering condemnation of the republican budget and how this is a very small and painful vision of a country shrinking. Theres nothing serious or courageous about this plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. Thats not a vision of the america i know. It was an astonishing swipe at a congressman who happened to be sitting right there in the audience. And worst of all, this is a vision that says even though americans cant afford to invest in education, even though we cant afford to maintain our commitment on medicare and medicaid, we can somehow afford more than 1 trillion in new tax breaks for the wealthy. I mean jesus, it was heavy. He didnt use ryans name, he just made fun of anyone who could propose anything like what he had read recently as a proposal presented to the House Republican leadership that did this to old people, and it went on and on. It was tough, and it was nasty. Paul ryan gets up after its all over and he makes a quick exit. Narrator the president s top economic advisor, Gene Sperling, ran after ryan. Sperling jumped up like hed been sitting in an electric chair, rushed out to mollify him. All i was trying to do was to let him know that we did not know they were coming. His response was that he felt the president had poisoned the well. Ryan was deeply offended by having been put into that position. And his republican friends were even more angry. President obama blasted paul ryans budget this weekend. Theyre furious that the president was so partisan. The president took to task in his remarks yesterday. Narrator the republicans were outraged. That afternoon, ryan and cantor capitalized on the moment. What we got was a speech that was excessively partisan, dramatically inaccurate and hopelessly inadequate to addressing our countrys pressing fiscal challenges. The only concrete proposal that he proposed was raising taxes, and that solution falls far short of dealing with the kind of crisis that were facing as far as the debts concerned in this country. Narrator and cantor had that debt ceiling threat. If the president wouldnt cut spending, he and the new republicans would force the issue. We all saw the debt ceiling as the best lever we had to make some changes, to deal with the spending problem, to deal with the Big Government problem. If the government were to fail to raise the debt ceiling, you would see an immediate panic in the market. White house showdown with House Republicans. Narrator at the white house, treasury secretary Timothy Geithner knew just how serious cantors threat was. Geithner says, we could trigger a depression worse than the 1930s. It will be indelible. It will be. It will last for generations. Tim geithner is one scared secretary of the treasury. When secretary geithner and the rest of us spoke to the president , we were very clear. A default would be unprecedented in our country. It would absolutely lead to a serious downgrading of our credit rating. Narrator geithner said they had only weeks to act before the country ran out of money. Geithner believes very strongly that we must get a deal. You cannot let this thing unravel. The markets will react terribly. Narrator the president got the message. He knew he had to sort it out with congress, find a partner. Maybe the speaker of the house. Obama told his staff john boehner is a country club republican, a golfplaying, cigarettesmoking dealmaker. Narrator the president decided hed try the personal touch. He liked to play golf and so did boehner, so they arranged a gettoknowyou game. Before the golf match started, i told the president. I said, mr. President , this is about golf, not about anything else. And he and i were partners. We played well and we won. And afterward, they go back to the clubhouse, and theyre having a drink. And its at that point when boehner says to the president , hey, you know, on this debt ceiling stuff, we ought to do something big. I suggested to the president , why dont we have a conversation . And he agreed. Narrator boehner was offering a chance to do something even bigger than dealing with the debt ceiling, something historic. John boehner is someone who understands power and had a great statement i didnt come to this town to have a big title, i came to do big things. Narrator as they left, it seemed like an important first step. They would try to form an alliance. They understood that it was going to be very hard to get the kind of bigger deal without each of them personally engaging. Narrator obama and boehner met in secret. The speaker entered the white house through a side entrance. Well, that was boehners decision, not ours obviously. Its not every day that the speaker comes to see the president quietly and says, im willing to do a deal that Everybody Knows is going to be dangerous for him politically. Narrator the talks were kept secret from eric cantor and the new republicans. Hes keeping it a secret from eric cantor. He knows how risky this is. Boehner kept telling obama, im taking a giant risk. You know, were risking the speakership because of this. Narrator the president and the speaker, oneonone, trying to reinvent the size and cost of government. Boehner calls these the nicorettes and merlot sessions. As boehner says, the president is having iced tea and chewing a nicorette. And boehner is having a glass of merlot red wine and smoking a cigarette. Narrator raising the debt ceiling was part of it, but they hoped for more longlasting tax reform and entitlement cuts what became known as the grand bargain. If the speaker and the president could come to a deal, and they both, as we used to say, hold hands and kind of jump off the ledge together, then they could not ram through, but they surely, with the strength of their positions, would have a very good chance to sell them the package. Narrator and to get the grand bargain, boehner was willing to offer a politically dangerous concession hed agreed to an increase in tax revenue. Well, it was very dangerous. But it became clear to me that the president wasnt going to deal with the spending problem without having a conversation about revenues. We always believed that through tax reform, there were lower rates for everyone. So i felt comfortable putting revenue on the table as a way of trying to get the president to be serious about the spending problem that we have. Narrator at the same time boehner and obama were meeting in secret, Vice President biden had been sent to capitol hill to hold very public talks with eric cantor. Vice President Biden is trying to find areas of commonality. House republicans are sitting down with joe biden again tomorrow. Narrator they had met nearly a dozen times. Vice President Joe Biden is expected to hold a bipartisan meeting on debt reduction. Biden keeps coming back and saying, youre going to have to do something to raise more money. And cantor keeps saying, were not raising taxes, were just not doing the tax thing. And so, thats basically where they hit a wall. Narrator but biden had a bombshell for cantor he revealed the secret talks between the president and boehner. The biden people say that cantor hid it on his face; he didnt show his surprise, but he was shocked. He had no idea that boehner was negotiating with obama. Boehner hadnt told him. Cantor is upset and says, look, i get more information out of joe biden than i do my speaker. And hes quite upset. Its humiliating. And it bruised him, and i think created a lot of tension between he and Speaker Boehner. Narrator then cantor heard for the first time boehner was offering the president hundreds of billions in tax revenue. It didnt take long for the information to leak. Its a bad idea for Speaker Boehner to meet alone with president obama. Tea party nation calling for john boehner to step down. The screwup is the leadership in the house of representatives. Narrator many of the new republicans were outraged. The speaker has had a tendency to shut the door and get on the phone, or go behind closed doors, with his staff usually. Thats a bad way to make a decision. And i dont think it helps anybody. I dont think the best decisions are made by washington elites behind closed doors. Boehner is a complete fraud. The tin man always. I had members, more conservative members, who just thought that sitting down with the president was a big mistake. Congressional leaders return to the white house today, back at the table. Fourth meeting in as many days. Narrator from now on there would be no more secret oneonone meetings with the president. Eric cantor would also come to the white house. So cantor starts turning up to these meetings. And what the Administration People decide is that cantor is sort of profoundly unhelpful to the process. Narrator unlike the nicorette and merlot sessions with boehner, these meetings were now filled with tension. Congressman cantor has a little bit of an edge to him that i guess is an acquired taste, but most of hadnt acquired it by then. And he had a little edge to him that boehner does not have, and there were a few times where he seemed to, if not cut off boehner, disagree with the speaker. Narrator cantor was adamant there would be no new tax revenue. And at one meeting, the president s chief of staff thought cantor went too far. There was a time where he kind of jumped in to correct the president with a tone that was a little disrespectful of the president. And the president took great umbrage. And the president just says, no, you know, this isnt a bluff. Dont call my bluff. And literally walks out. And this is a bit of a thunderclap for everyone, to say the least. And its frightening. Its crushing. Biggest breakdown in talks thus far with president barack obama walking out. Ended on a tense note with president obama reportedly walking out of the meeting. Narrator republican gridlock had a public face eric cantor. After a Heated Exchange with republican eric cantor. Eric cantor is now the man to blame for bringing us to the brink of economic. Turned to the blame game. Really willing to negotiate. Eric cantor, the House Republican leader, has emerged as the lightning rod in debt negotiations right now. Narrator the democrats piled on. Theres really only one person who has not made any concessions, and that is majority leader cantor. House majority leader eric cantor has shown that hes shouldnt even be at the table. And republicans agree he shouldnt be at the table. Eric cantor, majority leader, was acting like a juvenile. Narrator boehner watched as the onslaught took a toll on cantor. Now it seemed possible to reopen negotiations for the grand bargain. He really believed that we had to strike the grand bargain. Because anybody thats looked at it knows that its only the grand bargain that moves you forward. Playing small ball isnt going to work. The stalemate over the deficit continues. Narrator boehner was determined to close a deal. He gathered up a chastened eric cantor and headed for the white house. And the big question is if not now, when will a deal happen . The president came in after he returned from church, took boehner and cantor down the hall to the oval office. There was a lot of excitement in the oval office on that sunday after the president returned from church, because we had worked all morning. We had worked out the numbers, and we were there. Narrator they had returned to the grand bargain. Boehner had agreed to 800 billion in new tax revenue, obama to entitlement cuts. When we walked into that room, it was clear that we had an agreement, that there was 800 billion dollars in revenues, more than that in reductions and reforms on the spending side. And there, in effect, was an agreement. When the president came out, he said, i want this done, and everybody scurried to move into action. He looked at us and he said, get this deal done. And. There we went. That gang of six presentation of senators today. Narrator but then, two days later, up on capitol hill, a surprise from the senate. Members of the gang of six, which were three republicans, three democratic. Narrator for months, a group of senators called the gang of six had been meeting to come up with their own solution for the debt crisis. Few at the white house had taken them seriously. It became almost a joke at morning meetings when Gene Sperling would report what was going on with the gang of six. Narrator but now the gang of six claimed they had produced their own bipartisan plan. I had been told at least a half a dozen times that it was done, they had a deal, they were moving, they had a big announcement. So when somebody told me that morning the gang of six was coming out, i was like, yeah, great, when i grow hair thatll happen, too. Narrator the senators plan promised much more revenue than boehner was offering. When the gang of six plan comes out, here you had republicans in the senate willing to put so much more revenue on the table than Speaker Boehner was offering. Narrator obama sensed opportunity. The president makes this calculation, which in retrospect is quite fateful. He says hes going to take the unusual step of sort of Michael Douglas style in the american presidenhes going to storm out to the press room and use this moment. Hello, everybody. I wanted to give folks a quick update on the progress were making on the debt ceiling discussions. Because, now hes got like, according to rumor, theres like 20 republican senators saying theyll sign off on additional tax revenue. And this is a battering ram for him. The good news is that today. We figured there was some Seismic Shift that had happened there. Did we want to use that as a leverage back . Of course. My hope is that we can start gathering everybody to choose a clear direction and to get this issue resolved. Narrator the president would up the ante with boehner and cantor. Obama went back to boehner and said, look, things have changed. Theres this other plan out here; i cant cut the deal i thought i could cut before. I need 400 billion more dollars to sign on the dotted line. I told the president , i said, mr. President , we had an agreement. We had an agreement on sunday. And, you know, if i make an agreement with someone, ive got to live up to the agreement that i made. But he wanted more revenue, wanted more revenue. Narrator still, boehner wanted the grand bargain badly enough that he actually considered the president s request. Boehner had gotten this far and he thought, okay, what can we offer to obama . And he was starting to think through how to do his own counterproposal. Narrator cantor couldnt quietly stand by any longer. Cantor gets paul ryan and other people together. And they say, my god, weve got a runaway speaker. How do we get control of him . Narrator he confronted the speaker. Cantor says, absolutely not. Cantor says, i wont support it. The caucus wont support it. And from cantors perspective, hes now trying to walk boehner off a cliff. He is saying, you want this deal so badly that what you are thinking about doing will destroy you and will destroy the caucus and i wont let you do it. Narrator even boehners closest allies were worried. It was to the point where that that grumbling came to my ears and other friends of boehner. And three of us went into the Speakers Office and asked if we could have five, ten minutes of his time. And we sat down and said, youve got to. Youve got to pull this back because youre way out over your skis. And if you continue down this path, were not going to call you speaker anymore because theyre going to take it away from you. Narrator at the white house, they had no idea what was going on. He calls boehner that night, and he leaves a voicemail. Boehner doesnt pick up. So the president , he said, get back to me tonight, john. The president didnt hear. I think he called me around 10 00, 10 30 and said, have you heard anything . I said, no. I tried to reach the speaker and i had his cell phone, and he didnt answer, which is very unlike him because he always answered his cell phone. I reported that i hadnt heard back from him yet. So we were trying to figure out what the hell was going on here. The white house, they get kind of angry as time goes on, because they start to understand that theyre getting doublecrossed in some way and boehner wont call back. Narrator suddenly, Speaker Boehner called a press conference. We get this announcement that theres going to be a briefing in boehners conference room. We dont know. We still think theres a deal. We think this is to announce a deal. And i get to the conference room, and boehners in there and hes sort of chuckling around with reporters and joking about his tan and been on the golf course and he seems in a good mood. Narrator he told the waiting press hed be right back. Now he would quickly return the president s call. The speaker called back, and by then everybody knew what was going on. The president was pretty ticked. We were all pretty ticked, narrator boehner said, we cant go forward with this. For 12 minutes, they went back and forth. In the oval office, when the president is on that phone call, rob nabors, the head of congressional relations, sees the president is so angry, nabors worries that hes going to break the phone receiver. Boehner put it quite succinctly. He said that the president was angry, and so angry and so hot, he was spewing coals. Narrator outraged, obama immediately called his own press conference. I just got a call about a half hour ago from Speaker Boehner. It is hard to understand why Speaker Boehner would walk away from this kind of deal and frankly, i think that one of the questions the Republican Party is going to have to ask itself is can they say yes to anything . Can they say yes to anything . The tensions were unbelievably high. You know, this is now one week from dday. Narrator then it was boehners turn. Now let me just say that dealing with the white house is like dealing with a bowl of jello. That the white house moved the goal posts. There was an agreement on some additional revenues until yesterday when the president demanded 400 billion more, which was going to be nothing more than a tax increase on the american people. And i can tell you that leader cantor and i. Were heading into the weekend with the best opportunity for preventing economic cataclysm on a global level from occurring. Its now gone. There is no deal. Congress now has less than a week to come up with a plan to raise the debt ceiling. Theres no sign of a deal, and the clock is ticking. Narrator on july 31, 2011, just two days before the deadline expired, Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell reached his own deal with Vice President biden. At the last minute, mcconnell stepped in, cut a deal with the white house that allowed republicans to save face, allowed washington to kick the can down the road till after the election and give republicans a chance to defeat barack obama. Narrator the deal would create what would become known as the fiscal cliff. So lets roll it all together and well have one granddaddy of a fiscal cliff after the election. And thats where that came from. The fiscal cliff is a fiscal suicide vest. This is congress deciding that its going to jerryrig the system, its going to attach an explosive to the federal budget and if they cant act like adults and make mature, difficult decisions that are unpopular by a date certain, the whole place is going to blow up. Narrator it was no grand bargain. The tough decisions would be made after the 2012 president ial election. Ryan and cantor, those were the guys who basically convinced boehner, lets take this issue to the election in 2012 and try to win there. President ial candidate mitt romney has chosen wisconsin congressman paul ryan. And the republicans hoped that after november 2012, their bargaining position would be greatly strengthened because they would have mitt romney and paul ryan in the white house. Narrator it was a high stakes gamble, betting that they would win the argument by winning the election. And in a matter of minutes, it was all over. Quite a stinging loss for the republican nominee. It was clear disappointment as the reality of what could have been sank in. Narrator Election Night 2012. The voters handed the republican president ial ticket defeat and delivered a serious blow to the young guns. You can see the sober faces of disappointment. I watched ryans face as he came out onto the stage at the Boston Convention center, and he was devastated. Leaves the Republican Party with a lot of soul searching to do. So not only did paul ryan have this longterm plan that all culminated in the republicans winning back the white house in november 2012, theres just this extra agony of him that night actually thinking it was going to happen, and then not having it come to pass. Thank you, america. God bless you. Narrator president obama had won reelection but boehner and the republicans kept control of the house. President obama and john boehner went to the country and said, you decide. What is it you want us to do here . Who do you agree with . And the country basically said, you guys decide. The voters didnt resolve this issue. Narrator in the wake of the election, Speaker Boehner saw a chance to consolidate power. Hes strengthened a little bit within his caucus right after the election because, whether he says this outright, its implied that, look, i tried it your way, guys, and obama beat us. Narrator cantor and ryan were forced to reevaluate their strategy. Cantors a pragmatist in a way. I mean, hes going to go where the power is, and maybe the tea party isnt quite as strong as it was before. Narrator now, cantor would publicly stand in boehners shadow. The majority leader cantor was much different person, much more reasonable, much more moderate, very worried about the fact he was being seen as angling for the speakers job and undercutting republican unity. Narrator with his leadership secure, boehner decided it was time to clean house. After this election, i think he felt he needed to do something because this last congress was not successful because our own team was standing in our way. A purge is underway with Speaker Boehner dumping uncontrollable right wingers. Seen as not being team players within his own party. The speaker removing four conservative congressmen. Narrator they called it the boehner purge. It was fairly ruthless in a way that boehner has not been. Boehner needed to enforce some discipline, so he booted four members from their committees. This caused ripples throughout the entire Republican Caucus. Republicans were shocked. Narrator four conservative true believers were removed from Choice Committee assignments financial services, budget and agriculture. Tim huelskamp was one of them. Its politics as usual petty, vindictive politics. And was an attempt to consolidate power and continue to centralize Decision Making in the u. S. House. A lot of conservatives are outraged by this. There was a fundamental dismantling here in washington of the Tea Party Movement. I think they viewed the Tea Party Movement as something that scared them. Today what you see is, now that weve broken you up, now youre going to do it my way. Leadership gets rid of challenges. Narrator and with the election over, the deadline for the fiscal cliff was less than two months away. Boehner made the first move. They wanted to get a card out there and put it down quickly. So they prepared a speech and went through 18 drafts. It was tinkered with right there on the teleprompter up until the final moments. House Speaker John Boehner is going to be speaking to reporters. His office says he wants to talk about the fiscal cliff. Mr. President , this is your moment. Were ready to be led, not as democrats or republicans, but as americans. The speaker came out and acknowledged that the president won. Elections have consequences, and he acknowledged that right away. And he put revenue on the table. Narrator boehner made a dramatic public concession committing House Republicans to a deal that included new tax revenue. And for purposes of forging a bipartisan agreement that begins to solve the problem, were willing to accept new revenue, under the right conditions. Its a very clear signal. Hes basically saying to his caucus, im going here whether you like it or not. Ive made a determination to have this negotiation. I want to get a deal. Its a different position than it was in 2011. This time, youre following my lead. Lets rise above the dysfunction and do the right thing together for our country. Thank you. Narrator but in the weeks after his speech, it became clear the white house was in no hurry to negotiate. Boehner comes out immediately after the election and says, okay, lets do this. And the white house reaction was to just to slow walk it. And here you are, three or four weeks after the election, you know, beginning of december and negotiations havent really even begun yet. I mean, theyre just starting, theyre still sort of staring at each other. It was kind of shocking. And president obama is still in campaign mode. Traveled to a toy Company Playing a little hardball. Narrator during those weeks, the president left washington and returned to the campaign trail. Made a campaignstyle trip, touting his plan for higher. Coming out of the election, i think obama did not want to just suddenly go back into closed rooms and start negotiating. He was going to make sure he drove Public Opinion, or kept Public Opinion strongly on his side. When they start making a million, or ten million, or twenty million, you can afford to pay a little bit more. You know, youre not too. Narrator he was arguing for his Campaign Promise that congress raise taxes on the rich. Lets get it done. Obama was hammering home the winning message from the campaign of 2012, the rich are going to have to pay their share. And that was a brutal tactic because it was something that the house of representatives and the speaker of the house of representatives were totally unprepared to do. Speaker john boehner going to the white house to hash things out. John boehner set to visit the white house within the hour. Narrator by the middle of december, with the fiscal cliff deadline looming, obama was back at the white house. It was finally time to meet with boehner. It was an important meeting, because that was like the darkest hour, before the next darkest hour. Things had not been going well all week. Narrator boehner wanted to return to the grand bargain he and obama had negotiated before the election. I agreed to put 800 billion dollars of revenue on the table if the president was willing to make real spending cuts and reform our entitlement programs so they are sustainable for the long term. Boehners at the white house and he says, im giving you 800 billion in tax revenue, what do i get for it . And the president says, nothing. And what the president meant was, you already had put that on the table before, i won the election, thats not a concession. You need to come further to me than that. Thats the starting point. Thats the ante. Narrator the president wanted much more from boehner this time around. There were spending cuts that we had agreed to in august or july of 2011 that were taken off the table. Wouldnt even. Werent allowed to be discussed in december of 2012. And it was exasperating. It turns out the white house isnt really where they were in 2011. They walk back from some really significant concessions that they were willing to make then. The president s attitude seems to be, i won the election. I dont have to go back to my negotiating position. That was on the table then but this is whats on the table now. Well, i had heard, over the course of, at that point, six weeks, on a number of occasions, well, you have to remember, i won. Well, republicans maintained their majority in the u. S. House. You know, we won too. Narrator the meeting to avert the fiscal cliff quickly soured. This helped cement boehners impression that he was dealing with an arrogant president that was not really wanting to negotiate. And this sort of light begins to dawn on boehner that he has resolute opponents on both fronts of his twofront battle. On one side of him, he has the house conservatives. On the other, he has president obama. Hes in the middle and neither side seems to be cutting him a lot of slack. Narrator finally, boehner concluded that the negotiations to reach a grand bargain with the white house were going nowhere. When i gave the presint my bottom line, it was my bottom line. And the white house response was, well, we dont think were going to get anywhere. Its a waste of time. At that point i had no choice but to go to some other plan. Narrator the president s team doesnt remember it that way. We were disappointed, but we were also puzzled that, once again, we were this close to an agreement, and then inexplicably, the speaker decided to leave the negotiating table and try a different strategy. Growing concerns over how the u. S. Markets will react. Economists have warned that going over the cliff would cause a spike in unemployment. Narrator boehner reverted to what he called plan b. House Speaker John Boehner embraced what he called a plan b tuesday. Plan b really sent a shudder through washington. He wants the house to take the lead. Plan b was about making the house direct the entire conversation and debate, making the house start the legislative path forward. A backup plan to stop the country from going over. Narrator plan b called for the house to pass a bill and then make a deal with the senate. But first, boehner would have to get it past the new republicans. Boehner announces plan b, and then they go out and they try to round up the votes. And for many reasons, a great number of republicans are skittish about it. John boehner gave it his all. He tried as hard as he could, out there on the floor, grabbing members, putting his arm around them, trying to reason with them. He worked very hard to try to get this through. Narrator many of the conservative true believers were angry that plan b included a concession raising taxes on millionaires. I got to tell you, i was very disappointed in some of my republican colleagues who didnt see the wisdom of moving in that direction. Even guys like cantor and ryan cant bring along the most conservative members of the caucus. And thats how unruly the Republican Caucus is right now. Narrator boehner knew that plan b was in trouble. And just before the vote, he called an emergency meeting. So boehner calls a surprise conference meeting. All the members get a text message, come to the basement of the capitol right now. At 7 30 at night, were going have a meeting. Narrator every Republican Caucus meeting starts with a prayer. But usually boehner does not himself deliver it. On this particular night, he offered to say the prayer. I thought, you know, this would be the right prayer. God grant me the serenity to change the things i can, to accept the things i cant, and the wisdom to recognize the difference. It fit the moment perfectly. Narrator boehner had concluded his own members would not support plan b. It was dead. It was sad. And i. Theres no one that was more disappointed than i was. He said, we dont have the votes. Its not going to happen, and essentially were going home and wait for the senate. Is there going to be a vote tonight . No. No vote tonight . No. Will there be a vote tomorrow . The meeting is over in flash 15 minutes and these guys start pouring out. It was a real reckoning moment for House Republicans and it was a moment for the speaker in crisis. His members werent with him on one of the biggest votes of his political career. John boehner, the phalanx of reporters around him, his head just looking straight ahead frankly, like he was about to weep wouldnt talk to any of us and just made a beeline for the door and left the building. How could we not reach this . How would that even happen. It reinforces the sense of unpredictability. Failing to reach a deal. Narrator in the days that followed, the Political Climate in washington deteriorated even further. It culminated in a moment just before boehner and senator harry reid went into a meeting in the oval office. These guys are going into the meeting with the president. Boehner has just been humiliated by his own people with the plan b debacle. And he tells harry reid to go bleep himself. And reid looks up and he says, what . Excuse me . And boehner says it again. Hey, listen, senator reid and i are close friends. Weve got to work together. But just like any close friends, sometimes you just need to clear the air. And we did. Narrator boehner would now watch from the sidelines as Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell and Vice President joe biden again worked out a last minute deal. Weve seen this drama so many times now, its almost like its just an accepted part of the script. Things go on and then they fall apart. Then theres the 911 call, either from mcconnell to biden or biden to mcconnell. Narrator on new years eve, mcconnell outlined the stopgap measure. And i can report that weve reached an agreement on all of the tax issues. Narrator the key was a tax hike on individuals making more than 400,000. But it pushed the hard decisions on spending cuts down the road. Weve not solved this issue. Weve not solved it on a policy level, certainly, and weve not really solved it on a political level. And its a significant failure of leadership. The honorable john a. Boehner of the state of ohio. Narrator in january 2013, john boehner was elected to a second term as speaker, but a striking number of his own caucus voted against him. I think it confirmed in a sense what the negotiations showed, which is that there are people in the house who were not happy with John Boehners leadership, and they wanted to register that unhappiness. Narrator lately, eric cantor has broken with john boehner on key issues. Some say he is laying the groundwork to be the next speaker of the house. Eric cantor is playing for the future. He wants to be speaker. And hes looking for ways to achieve that while shaping the nature and the future of the Republican Party. Narrator for now, Speaker Boehner and president obama, after nearly two years of trying, face another round of highstakes negotiations. So washington is basically broken. Youve got the worse possible situation now. Youve got a deal that barely solved any of the fiscal problems. You have the most intransigent portion of the house of representatives going into the next set of negotiations with their heels already dug in. Narrator they face imminent deadlines on mandatory cutbacks, keeping the government running, and another debt ceiling vote. The next fight is going to be far uglier and far bloodier than the fights that weve already been through. Because were down to the stuff that is the hardest stuff to do. So i just. No one has presented a strategy yet, no one is out there talking about a path to get through this next problem. The budget deal doesnt address the debt ceiling and automatic spending cuts, which are set. Battle lines are already emerging for the next showdown. The government cant pay its bills. How can we expect a deal. The school is in lockdown. After the tragic shootings, frontlinin collaboration with the hartford courant, investigates two important stories from inside newtown. We have a loner, guy who played violent video games, lived in a house where there were guns. Haunting questions. How it all adds up to this kind of horror were working hard to understand. And a heated debate. Connecticuts very polarized on guns. Sandy hook may push people even farther to the extremes. Go to pbs. Org frontline to watch the extended video interviews with john boehner. Wed worked out the numbers, and we were there. And william daley. That it was done, they had a deal. Explore relationships betwn the key players and the debt and deficit battles, and a timeline of how they played out. And find out whats still to come in this bitter, highstakes standoff. Follfrontline on facebook and twitter, or tell us what you think at pbs. Org frontline. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontline is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. And by the frontline journalism fund, with a grant from scott nathan and laura debonis. Captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org for more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs. Org frontline. Frontlinecliffhanger is available on dvd. To order, visit shoppbs. Org, or call 1800playpbs. Frontline is also available for download on itunes. Turn to pbs. For stories that define the american experience. All of this stuff was just erupting revealing our strengths. You create a new future. Our struggles. Its very american to say this is not right. These are our stories. We were so innocent and oddly enough we were so american our american experience. Only on pbs