WASHINGTON — With economic disaster looming at the stroke of midnight Thursday morning, America was left standing on the precipice after House Republicans suddenly abandoned a vote that would have averted default.
In a stunning turn of events, House Speaker John Boehner failed to muster support from his own GOP conference for a deal that would raise the nation’s debt ceiling and reopen the government, leaving less than 24 hours to the deadline, when there will be no more borrowed cash left to pay the nation’s bills.
“Out of bullets,” confided one GOP official, explaining that Boehner (R-Ohio) had exhausted his options and couldn’t convince conservative members to go along with a bill that was all set for a vote before suddenly being yanked Tuesday night.
The collapse of the Boehner plan prompted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to restart separate negotiations that were put on hold awaiting House action.
The Treasury has warned that failure to raise the nation’s $16.7 trillion debt limit by midnight threatens a US credit default that experts fear would trigger a global economic crisis.
The emerging Senate plan, which increasingly looks like the last hope to avert catastrophe, still faces major hurdles if Tea Party members, such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) mount opposition.
“We are coming brazenly close to the edge. We are looking over it now,” warned Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.).
Responding to the confusion in Washington, the Fitch credit-rating agency put the U.S. government’s prized AAA credit rating on a “negative watch.”
“I genuinely don’t know what may be the next move,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
If Reid and McConnell are successful, Boehner’s only way forward might be to call up the Senate plan for a House vote with mostly Democratic support — an act that could imperil his speaker’s post.
Boehner’s latest plan, which he unveiled to lawmakers Tuesday only to modify it hours later, was dramatically scaled back from earlier GOP efforts to use the debt- ceiling hike as a lever for demanding sweeping changes to the ObamaCare health-insurance law.
As written, the plan would have stripped only federal subsidies for health-care coverage of lawmakers, their staffs and top administration officials.
Tea Party conservatives in the GOP conference balked at what they viewed as a major retreat.
The speaker’s office offered no guidance on what to expect Wednesday, although a GOP aide said it was likely the House would wait for the Senate to act.
“I don’t know in my 17 years here where I’ve seen a situation where a solution looked less likely,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).
There were several new developments in a day of secret meetings and frenzied negotiations:
- President Obama claimed he couldn’t reach an agreement with Boehner because the GOP leader was being undercut by his own conservative caucus. “The problem that we’ve got is that for Speaker Boehner, for example, him negotiating with me isn’t necessarily good for the extreme faction in his caucus. It weakens him,” Obama told WABC-TV.
- Stocks tumbled 133 points as jittery investors lost faith that a deal, which seemed at hand on Monday, was still within easy reach.
- House Republicans began a two-hour meeting in the Capitol by singing “Amazing Grace.”
The deal revived in the Senate would reopen the government until Jan. 15, provide for new budget negotiations through mid-December and extend the debt limit into February.
It also would require the Health and Human Services agency to verify that people who get ObamaCare subsidies meet income requirements, a Republican demand.