Following last night's
humiliating postponement of John Boehner's
already-doomed debt bill, today begins with the House leadership
not knowing if they've strong-armed enough Republicans so they can bring this colossal waste of time up for a vote:
On Friday morning, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was non-committal about bringing Speaker John Boehner’s debt ceiling package back to the floor — less than 12 hours after GOP leadership pulled the bill fearing it would fail without enough Republican votes.
Which probably means another day of Boehner & Company trying to strong-arm scrounge up enough reluctant members to give them the yes votes they so desperately need. We can only hope it's as much fun as yesterday, when we learned that congressmen were being accosted in the shower:
The lobbying for Rep. Tim Walberg’s debt-ceiling vote began early Thursday morning. The third time it happened, it was only 7:20 a.m. and he was naked.
... being tempted with oh-so-compelling arguments like:
“I need your vote. I want your vote,” Walberg recalled House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) telling him at one point during the day. “Why can’t I have your vote?”
... and being plied with pizza and promises of ... well ... not much beyond sobbing, "We need you."
But just in case debasing himself isn't enough to push Boehner over the finish line, he got a little help from his friends last night:
House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-CA) said his committee voted late last night to give House Speaker John Boehner "maximum flexibility" or "same day authority" to allow him to alter his debt ceiling bill as needed to win over the remaining votes, without having to go through the Rules Committee process each time, Beltway Confidential reports.
So much for that pledge House Republicans made about all bills being posted online for 72-hours for public review.
At this point, whether there's a vote today is anybody's guess. MSNBC says that the AP is reporting that the GOP is going to change the stalled bill and a vote could come
sometime today. You know, like yesterday.
Stay tuned.