In The House, A Likely Struggle For 218 Votes

[Purveyor]

By Mike Lillis - 07/31/11 01:59 PM ET

House leaders in both parties have their work cut out if they hope to pass a debt-ceiling package being finalized by the White House and Senate Republicans.

Although the details of the near-agreement are still emerging, early reports indicate it includes contentious provisions sure to alienate both conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats.

If both the left and right flanks of the lower chamber unite in opposition, it would fall to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to forge a more centrist, bipartisan coalition to get the bill across the finish line – just as they did to cobble together support for the unpopular Wall Street bailout in 2008.

--CLIP

Boehner, for instance, will have to convince his troops to swallow a deficit-reduction strategy without direct ties to a balanced budget amendment – a non-starter with many conservative members. Last week, Boehner tried to push such a bill through the lower chamber, but, despite a commanding majority, GOP leaders couldn't marshal Republican support to pass the bill.

MORE...

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/174583-in-the-house-a-likely-struggle-for-218

[CakeGrrl]

1. Sounds like an endgame:

So the House is now forced to either smooth out the ugliest of the rough edges to make it passable, or it gets voted down and we'll finally see the White House's Plan B.

Boehner is forced to try and get the Teabaggers on board without one of their key demands.

Either they drop the insanity or the President makes the final play.

[lonestarlib]

2. Plan B?

[CakeGrrl]

3. The contingency option should Congress fail to do its job.

Some people are pressing for the invocation of the 14th Amendment, but the truth is that no one knows what the WH plan is until they're forced to put it in play.

And that not knowing is what's driving some people nuts with wild speculation. But I do not expect the WH to lay out all the options because that would give Congress an excuse to shirk their responsibility.

So all this "gamesmanship", as some put it, is about forcing them to do what they OUGHT to be doing.

But if they can't, I'm pretty sure the President is not as inept or stupid as some around here insist he is. If people think a Constitutional Law professor and his White House counsel and his advisors haven't been thinking this through, they're in for an awakening, I believe.