The Senate won't pass the House bill that was crafted to appease the tea partiers, and Obama would veto the bill if the Senate did pass the bill. So why did the House bother? Why did the House come up with a bill that only tea party and conservative republicans would like? Leverage, theater, to score points because, you know, we have a lot of time for that. Not. There's only a few days left.
The vote was 218 to 210 in favor of a bill offered by House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). After revising the plan and intensively rallying Republicans to support it, Boehner was barely able to muster the 217 votes need for passage, but Democrats were united in opposing it. Twenty-two Republicans joined 188 Democrats in voting “no.”
President Obama warned earlier in the day that the House GOP plan had “no chance of becoming law,” and he instead urged Senate Democrats and Republicans to reach a “bipartisan compromise.” He said time is running out to lift the federal debt ceiling and reiterated his objections to a measure that includes only a short-term increase of the debt limit. Read more at WaPo