Boehner concedes House a 'rambunctious place'

House Speaker John Boehner insisted on Sunday there’s no rift among House Republicans, even though some members of his own party - in an embarrassing defeat for his leadership - rejected a three-week funding extension for the Department of Homeland Security.

“The Senate refused to pass their own bill, Sen. [Mitch] McConnell tried for almost a month to get the Senate to act, but four times Senate Democrats blocked the ability to even debate the bill,” the Ohio Republican said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “So, I thought that a three-week agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security was ample time to have a Senate-House conference, which we asked for Friday night, and more time for the courts to make a decision.”

But that three-week bill was defeated Friday before the House and Senate both approved one-week stopgap spending measures.

That failed vote has stirred concerns among Boehner allies that some House Republicans might try to unseat the speaker. But Boehner insisted his party is on the same page when it comes to future DHS funding battles.

“We do have some members who disagree from time to time over the tactics that we decide to employ,” Boehner said. “But remember, Republicans are united in this idea that the president has far exceeded his constitutional authority. … The goals are all the same.”

Boehner called the House a “rambunctious place,” adding its 435 members have differing ideas on what Congress should — and shouldn’t — be doing.

Asked if he can lead those members, Boehner said: “I think so,” but added: “I’m not going to suggest it’s easy.”

Asked if he plans to bring up a full Homeland Security funding bill in the House that doesn’t include the immigration provisions, as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said Boehner promised to do, the speaker said: “The promise I made to Nancy Pelosi is the same promise I made to Republicans, which is to follow regular order.”

Now it’s time for the Senate and House to go to conference committee, Boehner said.

“They’ve made clear that they don’t want to go to conference,” he said. “But they’re going to have to vote, and if they vote in fact not to go to conference, this bill may be coming back to the House.”

Addressing the same issue on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blamed the issue President Barack Obama and, particularly, Senate Democrats.

“We avoided a cliff; they created one,” he said.

“This president has created this frustration,” McCarthy said. “And remember, you see a frustration in the House; that is reflective and representative of the frustration in our districts. This president doesn’t want to work with the American public.”

Still, McCarthy appeared optimistic that the House and Senate can resolve the matter together.

“The best thing that can happen is we go to conference and settle our differences,” he said.

McCarthy also disputed “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd’s suggestion there’s a serious rift among House Republicans, using a similar line as Boehner and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.). “We have a difference of opinion in strategy and tactics,” McCarthy said, “but in principle we are united. We’re united in the principle there’s a right way and wrong way to legislate.”

In a last question on CBS, the speaker was asked if he likes his job.

“Most days,” Boehner said. “Friday wasn’t a whole lot of fun, but most days. … It was just messy. I’m not into messy.”