WASHINGTON — A go-it-alone House Republican plan to
raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling teetered on the edge of
failure late Tuesday as leaders struggled to rally support from
reluctant members.
Leaders postponed a planned Wednesday vote in the
House in an indication of the problems regarding the effort. The House
plan would face an uncertain fate in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and
White House officials said they would recommend that President Barack
Obama veto it.
The uphill task, led by House Speaker John Boehner,
R-Ohio, grew more difficult when an independent analysis posed a
challenge to figures used by the leadership, saying the plan’s initial
$1.2 trillion in savings would be less than initially estimated.
Boehner’s challenge arrived at a pivotal moment for
the Republican Party and the country, after months of political deadlock
and days before the federal government hits the limit on how much it
can borrow. Officials have said that if the debt ceiling is not raised
by Tuesday, the government would be unable to pay all its bills and
obligations.
The effort at a House-led resolution encountered a
series of obstacles. In their effort to rescue the plan, GOP leaders
pushed into overdrive, using arguments, empathy, sweeteners and even a
tough-guy movie clip.
To push a House-led plan, Boehner must amass 217
votes. There are 240 Republicans in the House, so he can afford to lose
no more than 23 — a questionable prospect given the opposition of many
conservatives to any increase in the nation’s debt limit.
Few if any Democrats are expected to support the
plan, which would require the president to go to Congress twice during
the next year for authority to raise the nation’s debt limit, which
Obama opposes.
A competing plan, pushed by Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid, D-Nev., would provide for a debt ceiling increase to last
through 2012.
One by one Tuesday, reluctant rank-and-file House Republicans wrestled with their decisions.
The discussions reflected divisions with the
Republican Party at large. Influential business groups, including the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urged lawmakers to vote for the House plan,
which would cut about $3 trillion over a decade, while pivotal
conservative groups warned against it.
“When there is this type of pressure, I do what I was
taught to do: I get on my knees and I ask for some understanding and
some leadership,” said Rep. Jeff Landry, a freshman Republican from
Louisiana, who came to Washington without any experience in elected
office. He said he was undecided, but very skeptical.
Boehner and his leadership team relied on good-cop,
bad-cop approaches to push and pull lawmakers into line in a tense
environment one GOP senator said was “changing every hour.”
In many ways, this was a moment for the history
books: the machinery of Washington at work in a classic showcase of the
congressional process. At a closed-door meeting of Republicans, Rep.
Eric Cantor, R-Va., the majority leader, said it was time to “quit
whining” and vote.
Seeking to inspire members, Rep. Kevin McCarthy,
R-Calif., the House whip responsible for aligning members, turned to
Hollywood. He showed lawmakers a clip from the heist movie drama “The
Town,” as Ben Affleck’s character tells his accomplice he needs his help
and needs it now — no questions asked.
The loyal buddy seizes the moment by simply responding: “Whose car we gonna take?”
Rep. Allen West, a tea party-aligned freshman from
Florida who has been known to buck leadership, gave an impassioned
speech backing the plan.
West concluded by saying: “I will drive the car.”
But others were turned off by the hard sell from the
leadership — and the White House. In a speech Monday night, Obama took
to task House Republicans, particularly the sizable freshmen class that
has been most resistant to raising the debt ceiling.
Freshman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a former
prosecutor, said he and his peers are not the caricature Obama makes
them out to be, but fiscal hawks who want to make a “trans-generational”
impact on debts and deficits.
“We’re not a bunch of knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing Neanderthals,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, a Democratic measure that
would allow the debt ceiling to be raised with $2.7 trillion in deficit
reduction was put on hold pending the House outcome. Seven Republican
senators would be needed to join with the Democratic majority to clear
Reid’s plan.
But few senators were willing to lock themselves in before the House results are known.
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(c) 2011, Tribune Co.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
