Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Tx, said that President Obama is "AWOL" on the continuing resolution and the debt ceiling, according to CBS News, October 6, 2013. Cornyn was speaking on the program, "Face the Nation" when he made the comments. Cornyn appeared on the program after Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who stated that the problem is that Speaker Boehner will not allow a House vote on the government shutdown and the debt ceiling.
Lew suggested that there are eighteen members of the House who are willing to vote to end the government shutdown, but that they are being hindered by Speaker Boehner and his unwillingness to allow a vote of the entire House on the matter. Lew stated:
Well then why doesn't he put it on the floor and give it a chance? There's a majority in Congress that I believe is prepared to do the right thing, to open the government and make sure we don't cross over that abyss."
Cornyn referenced the fact that our government is not a monarchy and implored the President to "roll up his sleeves" and sit down at the table and negotiate with House leaders:
The president's got to lead and he's got to do his job. We rejected the concept of a king, when our country was founded, and created three co-equal branches of government. The president said he won't negotiate on the continuing resolution and now he said he won't negotiate on the debt. But what he needs to do is roll up his sleeves and get to the table and I'm sure we can get past the impasse on both the continuing resolution, as well as the debt ceiling."
Cornyn maintained that House Republicans "got the better of him" (Obama) and that he "realizes that he's going to have to give something in order to get what he wants, and he doesn't want to go there."
In the meantime, the impasse remains and neither side appears to be edging closer to a compromise.
