Speaker Boehner has scheduled a vote on his debt ceiling bill for 5:45 PM, well after the stock exchange closes for the day. If no Democrats vote for the bill, he can only afford to lose 23 members of his own caucus. There are currently 22 members openly pledged to oppose the plan, with a couple dozen more saying they’re still undecided. Seems like heavy lifting to me, especially because Boehner and his leadership team have sworn off the kind of strong-arm tactics used by Denny Hastert and Tom DeLay.
And, really, it’s very hard to see the upside for voting for this bill if you are a teabagger. Yes, an ‘aye’ vote is a vote of confidence in the Speaker, but why would a teabagger want to show confidence in John Boehner? His record is one of unremitting support for running up the deficit. He has no credibility on the most important issue to the Tea Party. I have no idea why they consented to let Boehner be the Speaker in the first place. The Reid bill isn’t all that different, so it seems to me to make sense to vote against all plans and let the RINOs and the Democrats take responsibility for passing the Reid plan.
If this destroys Boehner’s political career, all the better, as he will be replaced by someone who didn’t vote for Medicare Part D, a half dozen unfunded supplemental war appropriations, and TARP.
Right now, Think Progress has the GOP tally against as already at the magic 23.
I have no pity for Boehner. There is a job at the Chamber waiting for him.
From TPM
Susan Crabtree reports that Speaker Boehner was asked if passage of his bill would help prevent the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating.
His response? “That is beyond my control”
No, not really. Not at all. That’s just unbelievable.
More soon …
3,2,1…http://www.politico.com/
One of the few things I would trust Politico to report accurately.
They’re going to vote for it because every single one of them is a moron. It’s a fundamental job requirement for being part of the Teabagger Caucus: you must not have the sense that God gave to a cinderblock.
Boehner shows them a clip from a Ben Affleck movie, says passing this bill will, like, totally show up Obama, and that gets their testosterone flowing. Maybe not enough to get him to 217, but enough to get him pretty close.
Democrats obviously hate Boehner’s plan, which gives conservative Republicans a reason to like it. Perhaps its true that a lot of what motivates them is to find ways to make liberals mad.
The only advantage of his bill I know of from a conservative’s perspective is that it preserves the hope of making cuts to entitlements, by ensuring we’ll be debating the debt ceiling again before the next election. But if Republicans were unable or unwilling to force through such changes this time around, why would it be any different next? What is the point of putting this fight off to the future?
At any rate I really hope his bill goes down. Perhaps that will convince him he has no choice but to pass something that will have the support of some Democrats as well as Republicans. Although even that’s not assured; he might just let it all burn.
They were freshman congresscritters. They were ignorant. They did what they were told by incumbents until Boehner didn’t do what they thought he was going to do. Now they have the pitchforks out.
voted for the cut, cap, and destroy bill are staying in line. Wonder what Pelosi threatened there
They got their free vote on a plan that would not pass. They can tout the fact that they voted yes on a plan tougher than the one Boehner is now proposing.
Life’s good when you’re a Blue Dog.
More to the point – Boehner’s new plan is a compromise away from the ridiculous Cap, Cut and Balance plan. Boehner’s plan isn’t getting tea party support so there’s no need for Blue Dogs to vote for it – if they get attacked for not voting for it they can just say “I didn’t think it went far enough”.
And they’re not going to have to vote for the Senate plan either. If Reid’s plan makes it into the House it will need to pass with a majority of Dems and moderate Republicans – Boehner can’t count on those Blue Dogs supporting anything the Tea Party zealots won’t support.
I have no idea why they consented to let Boehner be the Speaker in the first place.
Who was against him? Nobody. Eric Cantor briefly flirted with challenging him, but for whatever reason (political calculus obviously) moved up to Majority Leader, let Boehner move up to Speaker unopposed, and ingratiated himself with the tea caucus instead.
Why did they let him have it unopposed? ‘Cause nobody else wanted the goddamn job. Even as dumb as fenceposts as some of these people are, they had to understand that whoever had the Speaker job in a GOP-controlled House with a Democratic Senate and President would eventually have to make hard decisions that would be unpopular with the base. And they don’t want that kind of responsibility.
The better question to ask is “Why did Boehner want the job so damn bad in the first place?” (But of course the answer to that is that if you’re less of an ideologue and more of an opportunist, the Speaker position is a fine place to feather your nest).
I thought Bachmann was gunning for it originally?
I don’t think she really had her eye on anything higher than Whip. You aim high and take less. Steny Hoyer, e.g.
Yep, how is Speaker Hoyer doing with his management of the bills in the 2009-2010 session? He really whipped those Blue Dogs.
I wasn’t paying close attention to Blue Dog votes in the last session of Congress, but it seemed to me that the Democratic leadership whipped enough votes to pass pretty much every major piece of legislation (including cap-and-trade, excluding card check?) in the progressive agenda. Bills then went to the Senate to die (by the hundreds if I recall correctly). Or is there something I missed?
According to the WSJ Blog, there are 22 no’s or leaning no’s. He can afford 23.
I will bet large sums of money this passes.
It doesn’t matter if it passes or not.
If it does pass, Harry Reid has already said he’s going to take it, gut it, put the Democratic proposal back with the same bill number and send it right back to the House.
If it doesn’t pass, Reid will find some other bill that’s passed the House to gut and send back to the House for a vote.
This is why Boehner is having a hard time getting his caucus on board – Reid has very aggressively said that this is what’s going to happen. So Tea Partiers who vote for this “compromise” (read disdain into those quotes) will be taking that vote for no reason. Better to stay pure than sully themselves with a “compromise” that isn’t even going to pass the Senate.
And to add to that – Limbaugh is apparently rallying folks against Boehner’s bill, saying it would be a victory for Harry Reid if it passes the House and goes into the Senate.
I just don’t see how Boehner passes this now with Limbaugh lined up against him and 23 people in his caucus planning to vote against it.
when I see it.
It seems as though Boehner is setting teabag Republicans up for betrayal. First he gets them to abandon their pledges with promises of victory. Then if the bill passes, the Senate will kill it, and he’ll end up making a deal with Democrats, perhaps using the passage of his own bill as leverage to get a better deal. Unless he’s intending to let the government default if the Senate doesn’t agree to his bill. Or unless Democrats really do cave the way he’s boasting they will.
….he will be replaced by someone who didn’t vote for Medicare Part D, a half dozen unfunded supplemental war appropriations, and TARP.
Ron Paul is stepping down in 2012…is there anybody else?
the entire freshman class, for starters.
You’ll see a Teabagger speaker after you see a freshman speaker, and you’ll see a freshman speaker shortly after the heat-death of the sun.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens. If no Dems vote for Boehner’s bill, that might actually make it easier for tea party Republicans to vote for it. Still, if Limbaugh, et al, are “whipping” against it, that’s got to make House Republicans nervous about primary challenges.