It’s been four hours now since Speaker Boehner scuttled the scheduled vote on his own debt plan. We have five TPM reporters up on the Hill, along with dozens of reporters from other outlets, awaiting some signal that Boehner has rounded up the necessary votes. No decisive movement of Republican votes in his direction has been detected, though often times these things don’t become publicly visible until after the fact.
There are rumblings, unconfirmed, that Boehner may have to make some tweaks to his bill to win over a few more votes and get it passed. But that would probably delay a final vote until tomorrow at the earliest.
One interesting dynamic here is that this Republican House has foresworn earmarks, the type of baubles that come in very handy when it’s time for horse-trading. That makes the art of persuasion more difficult for Boehner.
