GOP Leaders Soften Tone Against White House [View All]

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By Steven T. Dennis
Roll Call Staff
http://www.rollcall.com/news/gop_leaders_soften_tone_against_white_house-208589-1.html


With August poll ratings for the president and Congress in a tailspin after the messy debt deal and a report of stagnant job creation, GOP leaders are breaking out their olive branches.

Indeed, the rhetoric of the top two House leaders, Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.), has softened since the August recess, when many of their Members were confronted at home by constituents fed up with Washington, D.C., and concerned primarily with unemployment.

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“There’s definitely a change in the rhetoric — it remains to be seen whether there’s going to be a change in policy,” said Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio). He attributed the change to Members listening to voters in August.

“A lot of base Republican supporters in my part of the world said, ‘You know, you have to show us something. ... This cut-and-grow thing has a limited shelf life. You actually have to produce something, and if you can work with the president, you should, to get something done because everybody wins,’” LaTourette said. “I think they probably heard the same thing and I think that’s great.”