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.