UPDATE: House Debt Limit Vote Still on Hold
UPDATE: House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy has announced that there will be no vote tonight on the bill. Speaker Boehner still has not convinced 216 of his Republican members to vote in favor of it.
Washington is on pins and needles tonight waiting for the House to vote on Speaker John Boehner’s debt limit/deficit reduction plan.
The vote was supposed to be taken at 6:00 pm, but has been postponed apparently while the Republican House leadership tries to round up 216 Republican votes to pass it. Senate Democrats have made clear that the Boehner plan will not pass the Senate even if it ultimately passes the House, but that is step two. Everyone is focused now on step one.
Earlier today Speaker Boehner acknowledged that he did not have 216 votes among his Republican colleagues, which is essential since no Democrats are expected to vote in factor of the plan. It would increase the debt limit only for six months, forcing another showdown early next year. Democrats are strongly opposed to leaving the U.S. economy in limbo and fighting this fight again in an election year.
The House Republican leadership is pulling out all the stops to get enough Republican votes in favor, but Tea Party conservative Republicans oppose the plan because the spending cuts it envisions are not deep enough.
Stay tuned.
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