Doyle, Martin, 1956- :'Shouldn't we be evacuating the building first, Mr Boehner?' 5 March 2013

Depicts a consruction worker looking at a yellow building labelled 'the good world that is US' as Republican House Speaker John Boehner is about to dynamite the building. Boehner tells the worker that they don't need to evacuate the building 'its only $85 bil blast, they'll barely notice it.' Refers to the support of Boehner for the Republican written funding bill which includes a $85 billion programme of government cuts which President Obama reluctantly signed off in March 2013 (see the Wall Street Journal 5 March 2013). Commentary from the cartoonist is 'John Boehner's strategy has resulted in the proposed $85 billion spending cuts in the US. That is going to be like a bomb going off in that economy and will reverberate across the whole world'.

In 2011 a political crisis in United States saw the Republicans and Democrats agree on a deal to shrink the country's debt, or cuts to federal spending would begin. No bargain was ever struck, therefore the cuts came into effect in 2013. President Barack Obama blames the Republicans for inaction due to their opposition to any new taxes on wealthy Americans to generate income (The Guardian 2 March 2013)

Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).