Boehner: ‘We’re Not Going to Be Perfect Every Day’

By Siobhan Hughes

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) Wednesday sought to minimize Tuesday night’s setbacks on trade and security bills–but his problems aren’t likely to go away amid Democratic opposition and restless conservative Republicans.

“We’re not going to be perfect every day,” Mr. Boehner told reporters.

On Wednesday, the House did it again, failing to pass a Republican measure to require the U.N. to return $179 million in overpayments. The 259-169 vote was short of the two-thirds needed for passage under expedited rules.

The setbacks showed an unwillingness on the part of Democrats–bruised by midterm elections–to go out of their way to support the new GOP majority as well as the strength of conservative lawmakers within the Republican caucus.

On Tuesday night, House Republican leaders abruptly pulled a trade bill that would renew measures to retrain displaced workers and give duty-free access to imports from Colombia and Ecuador. Some conservative Republicans objected to aspects of the trade-adjustment assistance program as “stimulus.”

Republicans also failed to drum up enough support to extend expiring provisions of the Patriot Act. The party miscalculated and brought the measure to the floor under expedited voting procedures that require two-thirds of lawmakers to vote “yes.” But 26 Republicans broke ranks and joined 122 Democrats to vote no, leaving the bill short of support.