House Speaker John Boehner made it clear Thursday he's still strongly supporting controversial domestic surveillance programs.

"I've made it very clear this program does not target innocent Americans in any way, shape or form.  These programs have helped keep America safe," he said at his weekly news conference.

"They've enhanced our ability to go after terrorists who want to bring harm to the American people."

Boehner called on the White House to explain the programs more fully.

''Frankly, I'm a little surprised that the White House hasn't stood up and made clear on an ongoing basis over this last week just how important these programs are," he said.

"For those of us who have been briefed on these programs, who are aware of these programs, we're aware how much safety they brought us.  And we're also aware of many examples where they've helped us eliminate terrorist threats."

House Speaker John Boehner Tuesday declared Edward Snowden, who leaked top secret domestic spy data to the media, a "traitor."

Boehner, R-Ohio, spoke to ABC's "Good Morning America."

"He's a traitor," the speaker said. "The president outlined last week that these were important national security programs to help keep Americans safe, and give us tools to fight the terrorist threat  that we face."

Boehner supported the program. "The president also outlined that there are appropriate safeguards in place  to make sure that there's no snooping, if you will on Americans here at home."

What troubled the speaker was "the disclosure of this information puts Americans at risk.  It shows our adversaries what our capabilities are.  And it's a giant violation of the law."

Read the entire interview here.

If Republicans are going to target President Barack Obama for not knowing more about the Internal Revenue Service controversy, says House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, consider this:

"Well," she told a news conference Thursday, "The president doesn't know about everything that is going on in every agency of government.  Should Mr. Boehner have known because this is his neighboring district, and since -- Cincinnati, where the IRS office is?

"I don't think you can hold him accountable for what happened in that IRS office."

Asked if Democrats will be hurt politically, Pelosi, D-Calif, noted, "It happened under the appointment of the head of the IRS, who was appointed by President Bush; his length of stay extended into President Obama's stay." She referred to former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.

"But," she said, "I think that that points to the fact that why is this, you know, a politicized issue because the -- we all are concerned about how the IRS does what it's supposed to do, supports the law but does not do it in a selective way.  I've said before what they did was wrong.  The inspector general has said over and over it is not illegal."

Any confrontation  over the nation’s debt ceiling is now unlikely till after Labor Day.

The government is expected to hit the debt ceiling this weekend, but Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in a letter Friday that “extraordinary measures” would likely allow the nation to continue
paying its bills “until after Labor Day.”

That means that any war over the debt limit—one that could involve limits on federal spending and perhaps higher taxes—is probably not going to occur in earnest this summer.

Two years ago, that fight not only led to a tense showdown between the Obama White House and congressional Republicans, and ultimately a debt-reduction deal, but saw a downgrading of the
government’s credit rating for the first time in 70 years.

Here's reaction to the White House release of Benghazi emails from Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio:

"The House interim report found that senior State Department officials requested the talking points be changed to avoid criticism for ignoring the threat environment in Benghazi’ and that those changes were ultimately made.

"Those findings are confirmed by the emails released today, and they contradict statements made by the White House that it and the State Department only changed one word in the talking points. The seemingly political nature of the State Department’s concerns raises questions about the motivations behind these changes and who at the State Department was seeking them.

"This release is long overdue and there are relevant documents the Administration has still refused to produce.  We hope, however, that this limited release of documents is a sign of more cooperation to come.”

Friends and colleagues of Gabriel Zimmerman, the first congressional staffer to die in the line of duty, will gather at the Capitol Tuesday at 3 p.m. to honor his memory.

Zimmerman, then an aide to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was killed when a gunman opened fire in a Tucson shopping center in January, 2011. Giffords was seriously wounded.

She plans to be on hand Tuesday for the event, along with her husband Mark Kelly, and Zimmerman's friends and family. Also expected to attend are House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

They will dedicate froom HVC-215 at the Capitol Visitor Center as the "Gabriel Zimmerman Meeting Room."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is making no commitments on gun control legislation.

Shortly after the Senate voted to proceed with debate, Boehner told his weekly news conference that he expects the House to act.

But he couldn't say what or how, since the Senate has far to go.

 "Listen," he said, "the issue of guns (has) been an issue for the 22 years that I've been in Congress.  And the thing that we have to remember is that laws are only as good as our citizens' willingness to obey them.

"And law-abiding citizens, do, in fact, obey them. Criminals don't obey them.  In addition to that, we've got a system of laws that are not in force today."

Boehner added: "Now, I would think that before we begin to add more rules and regulations on law-abiding citizens, that we at least expect our law enforcement personnel and the Department of Justice to enforce the current law, which they are not doing."

House Speaker John Boehner's reaction to President Barack Obama's fiscal 2014 budget had a conciliatory tone. While the Ohio Republican continued to emphasize his opposition to new taxes, he saw hope for finding common ground.

Here's his statement:

“House Republicans passed a balanced budget that will help foster a healthier economy and to help create jobs.  Unfortunately, the president’s budget never comes to balance.  Every family has to balance its budget, Washington should as well. 

“The American people know you can’t continue to spend money that you don’t have.  The federal government has spent more than what it has brought in in 55 of the last 60 years.  Now think about this, you can’t continue to go on like this.  That’s why we came forward with a plan that will balance the budget over the next 10 years.  We believe strongly that it is time for Washington to deal with its spending problem. 

“And while the president has backtracked on some of his entitlement reforms that were in conversations that we had a year and a half ago, he does deserve some credit for some incremental entitlement reforms that he has outlined in his budget.  But I would hope that he would not hold hostage these modest reforms for his demand for bigger tax hikes.  Listen, why don’t we do what we can agree to do?  Why don’t we find the common ground that we do have and move on that?

“The president got his tax hikes in January, we don’t need to be raising taxes on the American people.  So I’m hopeful in the coming weeks we’ll have an opportunity, through the budget process, to come to some agreement.” 

As the details of President Obama's budget emerge, it's already raising hackles on the left -- and skepticism from the right.

The budget -- which will be unveiled Wednesday some two months after its actual due date -- is likely to include some Republican-friendly proposals mixed with what Obama calls a balance: tax increases and budget cuts. A senior administration official says it will include an offer to reduce the deficit by $1.8 trillion by cutting spending and "finding savings in entitlement programs."

But progressive groups accused Obama of breaking a campaign promise for calling for cuts in entitlements.

"Social Security is too important to the economic security of the American people to be used as a bargaining chip," said Nancy Altman, founding co-director of Social Security Works. She said Obama's offer to change the calculation on cost of living adjustments for Social Security beneficiaries and others who receive some form of government payment "cuts the benefits of every single Social Security beneficiary, now and in the future.

"The very groups who worked the hardest and voted in the highest percentages to re-elect the president -- working families, women, people of color, young Americans -- will be the ones hurt the most by the cuts the president is reportedly including in his budget," she said.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the plan "isn't the ideal proposal" that Obama would want, but it's a compromise that would be acceptable if they're linked with tax increases for the wealthy.

House Speaker John Boehner objected to the tax increases in the proposal, saying House Republicans have urged Obama "not to make savings we agree upon conditional on another round of tax increases.

"If the president believes these modest entitlement savings are needed to help shore up these programs, there's no reason they should be held hostage for more tax hikes," Boehner said. "That’s no way to lead and move the country forward."

House Speaker John Boehner sent a bipartisan congressional delegation to the Vatican for the investiture of Pope Francis.

Tuesday, he sent this message:

"Today I send greetings to fellow Catholics and people everywhere celebrating the installation of Pope Francis.  It is such a blessing to see this gracious and faithful servant of God become the leader of our church.

“Making this day even more special is that Pope Francis is the first Holy Father ever to hail from the Americas.  This, of course, is a milestone in world history and an event of monumental significance to the millions of Americans who share in the Catholic faith.

“So I’m pleased that a delegation of my colleagues has joined the Vice President at the Vatican to share warm wishes on behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives and the American people.  I also offer congratulations to Pope Francis and pray that God will grant him strength, good health, and wisdom.”

The delegation includes Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ), includes Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Sean Duffy (R-WI), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX), Jim Langevin (D-RI), Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), and Loretta Sanchez (D-CA).