House Speaker John Boehner admitted during a closed-door House Republican Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill early Thursday that his debt-limit proposal does not currently have enough votes to pass.
With a vote on the measure scheduled to take place after the U.S. financial markets close this evening, Boehner is frantically attempting to convince dozens of conservative lawmakers who are either undecided or opposed to his two-step plan to back the bill.
“We don’t have the votes, but we’re getting there,” he predicted during Thursday’s meeting.
Democrats are expected to vote en masse against the Boehner bill, which means the speaker can only afford to have roughly two dozen defections from members of his own party.
An informal whip list gathered by The Hill reveals that 22 Republicans are definitely or leaning against voting for the debt-limit bill. Another 44 Republicans are either undecided or have made their positions unclear.
Boehner’s proposal, which was tweaked after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office disclosed that it would cut $150 billion less than advertised, calls for $917 billion in spending cuts over the next 10 years.
The bill is considered dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where opposition is expected to be unanimous.
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