As Guy reported last night, House Republicans went without a vote on Speaker John Boehner's second debt deal yesterday because there wasn't enough support to get the bill passed. Now, according to Rep. Mike Pence, House Republicans will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss how to deal with the debt crisis moving forward. As Roll Call reports, it is unceratin at this time whether Boehner's second bill will ever be brought back to the floor.
It’s uncertain when the measure might return to the floor. The Ohioan and other GOP leaders had been leaning on aggressive lobbying to wrangle the 216 votes needed, but by late Thursday it was clear that enough conservatives were unwilling to budge from their opposition that the bill would go down.
The leadership is now scrambling to also come up with changes to make the bill more palatable. The Rules Committee approved a rule late Thursday that would allow Boehner to make changes to his bill and immediately bring it to the floor anytime from Friday through Tuesday, the day the Treasury Department predicts the United States will begin defaulting on its obligations if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.
According to ABC's Jake Tapper, President Obama may give another speech about compromise today in order to "calm" the American people. Tapper also reports White House officials believe the time for a big deal have passed. Leaving the passage of a smaller bill as the only option.
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