ProfJohn
Lifer
Now what??
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/house-passes-boehner-debt-ceiling-plan-223457649.html
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/house-passes-boehner-debt-ceiling-plan-223457649.html
With days before the Aug. 2nd deadline to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, the House approved a proposal from House Speaker John Boehner. The final vote was 218 members--all Republicans--voting for the bill, with 210 against. Passage of the Boehner plan came a day after House leaders had originally intended to hold a vote on the measure--and after several days of intensive lobbying and arm twisting by Republican lawmakers.
Faced with the threat that Republican leaders wouldn't be able to secure enough votes within their caucus, the party postponed the floor vote until House leaders could convince enough of their own to come on board. After several failed attempts to bargain with the remaining holdouts, Boehner on Friday morning offered an amendment in return for Republicans support that would allow for a vote on a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
It worked.
Even the most hardline Republicans left a closed-door meeting with the caucus Friday morning with the announcement that they had changed their minds and would support the Speaker's plan.
The bill would raise the federal debt limit by about $900 billion in return for $917 billion in across-the-board reductions in projected government spending. The measure would force Congress to vote again on the debt limit in six months, setting the stage for yet another national debate over government spending and debt. Republicans needed 218 votes to pass.
Senate Democratic leaders vowed before the vote that the bill would collapse in the upper chamber.
"Boehner's bill dies tonight," House Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman Adam Jentleson announced on Twitter Thursday afternoon when it was thought the House would vote on the bill in just a matter of hours. "Forever."
Now that the Republican plan has survived the House, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to table Boehner's House bill and move toward his own version of a debt ceiling package.
If Reid's version can't pass either, Boehner's plan would still be a tough--if not impossible--sell to the Senate and the White House. All 53 Senate Democrats signed a letter this week vowing to vote against Boehner's plan.
"A short-term extension like the one in your bill would put America at risk, along with every family and business in it," the letter read. "We now have only five days left to act. The entire world is watching Congress. We need to do the right thing to solve this problem. We must work together to avoid a default the responsible way—not in a way that will do America more harm than good."
Earlier this week, President Obama stopped short of promising to veto Boehner's bill if it survives the Senate, but sent a message to Congress Tuesday promising that, "senior advisers would recommend that he veto this bill."
The White House ramped up its rhetorical offensive on Friday when President Obama said that Boehner's plan "has no chance of becoming law."
The Senate could, however, amend the House bill and send it back to the House, which would likely include a reduction in spending and provide enough to raise the debt ceiling for more than a year.
Reid's plan to raise the debt ceiling ready, which would free up enough money for the government to continue paying its debts until after the elections in November 2012. That, too, would require House approval.
Friday's House vote was a culmination of days of uncertainty over whether Boehner could secure support from his own caucus. Just hours before the scheduled Thursday vote, GOP House leaders still could not say with confidence that they had the votes--and indeed a vote scheduled to take place around 6 PM EST was postponed till later in the evening as House GOP leaders continued hunting up votes for Boehner's plan, after already spending much of Thursday meeting personally with several House Republicans who they thought could be swayed. With the final moments ticking by, at least 22 House Republicans confirmed they would not support the speaker and four said they were "leaning" against it. (Just 25 Republican "nay" votes would have sunk the bill.)
That was too close for comfort for Republican leaders, who said they needed a few more hours and postponed the vote yet again. Around 10:30 PM EST Thursday night, GOP lawmakers announced they were calling it quits for the night and would pick the bill back up in the morning.
The entire 11th-hour episode has proven to be a test for Boehner, who took severe hits from the conservative wing of his party for seeking a compromise with Democrats. Conservatives were most displeased that Boehner's proposal omitted a key spending-hawk provision calling for a constitutional amendment to require Congress to balance the federal budget each year--but the deal to launch a separate bill on the balanced budget amendment allayed most of Bohener's critics on the right. While Republican leaders were busy corralling every possible vote, major conservative grassroots organizations blasted messages to their member lists urging them to tell members of Congress to vote against the Republican plan.
The Republican Study Committee--the chamber's largest conservative caucus, with more than 175 members--was actively working to undermine the Republican plan. Committee Executive Director Paul Teller, a staffer, had reportedly sent letters to conservative groups telling them to keep the pressure on House members to vote against Boehner's proposal. When the aide's actions were outed at a closed-door meeting with Republicans, members shouted "fire him, fire him!" according to an account in Politico.
The chaos on Capitol Hill, could, however be just the prelude of drama to come with the approach of Aug. 2--the date at which Treasury officials say the United States would begin defaulting on debt obligations. With no plan in sight that both sides can agree on, it is likely that whatever solution emerges from Washington will not emerge until the final moments.
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