His last hurrah.
The House will vote Wednesday on the
budget deal negotiated by leadership, the last opportunity for Speaker John Boehner's problem children to tell him they think he's a poopyhead, which they are expecting to do by
voting against it.
House Republicans are facing a last-minute uprising against Speaker John Boehner's budget deal, as dozens of GOP lawmakers are telling leadership they might vote against the package because of changes to crop insurance programs, and other concerns.
Senior GOP lawmakers estimate that between 60 and 120 Republicans will vote for the package as is, leaving Democrats to supply the vast majority of votes, though the vote count is fluid at this time. Aides in both parties expect the bill to pass, but the number of GOP defections is a notable rebuke to Boehner and other top Republicans.
Despite the
demands of some Freedom Caucus members, incoming House Speaker Paul Ryan
will support the budget package. In a statement released Wednesday morning, he said that the deal has "some good, some bad, and some ugly," but will "go a long way toward relieving the uncertainty hanging over us." That, as Sen. Harry Reid's aide Adam Jentleson
tweets is important because what this budget deal doesn't do is continue to fund government past December 11—it just sets up the limits and framework for spending. Ryan thus will be responsible for getting that new funding passed to keep government running.
Checking in on the Senate side, presidential candidate and professional crank Sen. Rand Paul says he'll filibuster. As usual, he won't really filibuster but just talk interminably to run out the debate time built into the schedule for passing something in the Senate. There will be 60 votes for this deal, and thus Paul can't prevent it from happening. But, hey, he has a presidential campaign to run and has to get attention somehow.