Vote on Revised Boehner Plan Expected Today

For those of you breathlessly following the political wrangling over the debt limit/deficit reduction debate, the latest news is that Speaker John Boehner has revised his proposal to garner more Republican support and a vote will take place later today.

The Hill newspaper reports that agreement was reached this morning to add a balanced budget amendment to what the Speaker previously proposed. The House already passed the “cut-cap-balance” bill last week that included a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, but the Senate rejected it. Some Senators have indicated that they would support a stand-alone balanced budget amendment, but not one that it tied to raising the debt limit or deficit reduction.

If a balanced budget amendment were to pass the House and Senate and be signed into law, it would have to be ratified by three-quarters of the States before taking effect.

Meanwhile, whatever passes the House needs to pass the Senate and get the President’s signature. This morning the President once again spoke to the nation and called on Congress to pass something that he can sign by Tuesday. He said that the House bill does not have the support of a majority of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and whatever passes must be bipartisan. He ended by saying that he is “confident that common sense and cooler heads will prevail.”