It isn’t that hard. You simply count who is with you and who isn’t. It was clear from the moment that Speaker John Boehner dreamed up his grand plan that he didn’t have the Republican votes, yet he pretended that all was okay. Alas, now the arm twisting begins.

Vote count by The Hill.

From HuffPo:

House GOP leadership announced abruptly on Thursday evening that they were suspending a vote on Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) debt ceiling proposal, signaling in the process that the GOP lacked the votes to pass the package.

The news came just minutes before party leadership was set to hold a 5:30 p.m. vote on the proposal, which would cut roughly $915 billion in spending over the next ten years but only raise the debt ceiling through the end of the calendar year.

Congressional aides were scrambling to figure out just when the vote would be rescheduled for — the House for now will consider eight smaller measures first — but a spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that a vote on Boehner’s proposal would still take place on Thursday night.

Whether that is enough time for the Speaker to convince a few more Republicans to support him is unclear. Informal whip counts had 25 Republicans and the full Democratic caucus opposing the measure, which would put it short of the 216 votes needed for passage. (more…)

Update: Great comment on NYT –

An asteroid is headed toward earth, the Tea Party says it won’t have an impact and we don’t need to do anything. The Democrats and Republicans are arguing over what color to paint the rocket that will be used blow up the asteroid before it hits us. The asteroid is getting closer and closer…

Update II: Watch the Video:

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From WaPo:

Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters shortly before 10:30 p.m. that there would be no vote Thursday night on the bill, which would increase the federal debt limit in two stages in exchange for major spending cuts.

The vote had been scheduled for around 6 p.m. Thursday, but as that hour neared, GOP leaders realized they didn’t have the 217 votes needed to send the measure on to the Senate.

So the House suddenly took up a series of non-controversial measures, leaving befuddled lawmakers debating whether to rename a post office in Hawaii before finally going into recess for an indefinite time. (more…)

So, after all is said and done, we are back where we were last week, two weeks ago, a month ago. After Eric Cantor and John Boehner positioned themselves as the men with the plan, they never had the votes. In my opinion, we are to blame. We, the American people, who voted for some politicians who were long on bluster and short on real ideas to move the country forward, are to blame. We voted in knuckleheads who didn’t understand the difference between campaign rhetoric and truly governing the country. We wanted jobs and instead we got worthless Republican rhetoric. Many Americans thought they were voting to preserve Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, in essence the American safety net, when in fact they were voting for intransigence. It seems to me that the only reasonable response by President Obama is to enact the 14th amendment. For the good of the country he has to personally direct the Secretary of the Treasury to raise the debt limit. For over a month, it was clear to me that this is where we were headed. We have no more time for posturing and rhetoric. It is time to act.

Watch the video: