John Boehner twisted more and more Republican arms, wangling compromise after compromise from them, until he finally had enough votes to get it passed in the House. It was then taken to the Senate, where the Democrat majority killed the bill immediately without taking the time to even read it.

This is the third major bill on the Budget, that the Republican majority in the House has passed.

The first one (the "Ryan plan") was voted down quickly by the Senate's Democrat majority.

The second one ("Cut Cap and Balance"), which polls showed was strongly favored by large majority of Americans, was tabled by the Senate Democrats, who refused to even debate it, effectively killing the bill.

The third bill was heavily loaded with compromises by the House Republican majority, such as removing the requirement for the House and Senate to pass a Balanced Budget amendment, and passed by the slimmest of margins. As noted above, Senate Democrats killed it within minutes without even reading it.

As these things normally go, it shouldn't be too long before we hear the next set of Democrat screams that the Republicans are the ones who aren't compromising, and that it's Republicans' faults that we are about to miss paying our bills, right on schedule.

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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/h...223457649.html

House passes Boehner’s debt ceiling plan–and Senate puts it on ice

by Chris Moody
Political Reporter

After a grinding week of negotiations in the House of Representatives, the chamber's GOP majority finally approved Speaker John Boehner's plan to increase the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling just ahead of the the Aug. 2 deadline for its expiration. And in short order, the Democratic-led Senate voted to table the House-passed measure in favor of a proposal advanced by Senate majority Leader Harry Reid. The Senate's maneuver now sets up a House vote over the weekend on the Reid proposal--and a fresh round of battling in Congress.

The final vote on the Boehner plan was 218 members--all Republicans--voting for the bill, with 210 against. Passage of the Boehner plan came a day after House leaders had originally intended to hold a vote on the measure--and after several days of intensive lobbying and arm twisting by Republican lawmakers.

Faced with the threat that Republican leaders wouldn't be able to secure enough votes within their caucus, the party postponed the floor vote until House leaders could convince enough of their own to come on board. After several failed attempts to bargain with the remaining holdouts, Boehner on Friday morning offered an amendment in return for Republicans support that would allow for a vote on a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

It worked.

Even the most hardline Republicans left a closed-door meeting with the caucus Friday morning with the announcement that they had changed their minds and would support the Speaker's plan.

The bill would raise the federal debt limit by about $900 billion in return for $917 billion in across-the-board reductions in projected government spending. The measure would force Congress to vote again on the debt limit in six months, setting the stage for yet another national debate over government spending and debt. Republicans needed 218 votes to pass.

Senate Democratic leaders vowed before the vote that the bill would collapse in the upper chamber.

"Boehner's bill dies tonight," House Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman Adam Jentleson announced on Twitter Thursday afternoon when it was thought the House would vote on the bill in just a matter of hours. "Forever."

(Full text of the article can be read at the above URL)