Will Republicans reject their own debt plan?

John Boehner is trying to muster GOP support for his proposal to trim the deficit and raise the debt ceiling, but few are confident he has the votes

House Speaker John Boehner is having a difficult time convincing his Republican caucus to support his two-step plan to raise the debt ceiling.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is betting heavily on his plan to raise the debt ceiling passing the House. That would give him political and tactical leverage in the increasingly urgent debt negotiations with the Senate Democrats and the White House. If the nation's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit isn't raised by Aug. 2, the government will run out of money to meet many of its financial obligations. Passage of Boehner's plan is hardly guaranteed, however: An uncertain number of House Republicans oppose Boehner's bill, saying it doesn't cut spending enough; almost all House Democrats oppose it; and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says it won't cut as much as Boehner promised. Will the GOP fail to pass its own plan?

Boehner's bill won't make it out of the House: The GOP's plan was "dead on arrival," even before the CBO hammered a final nail in its coffin, says Zeke Miller at Business Insider. Boehner simply doesn't have the votes, and with conservative "groups from the Club for Growth to the Heritage Foundation" opposing his plan, along with lots of Tea Party organizations, it's clear he can't pass any debt-limit increase without a significant number of Democrats.

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