American Majority Action, the conservative group that’s leading the charge against House Speaker John Boehner continuing in his current position, said Monday evening that Boehner doesn’t have at least 50 percent of his House GOP members’ support for the fiscal cliff deal that Senate leaders and the White House have reportedly cut.
The deal, between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden, reportedly raises spending and hikes taxes on all Americans making more than $450,000. According to AMA, it raises spending by delaying sequester budget cuts.
In an email to reporters late Monday, AMA spokesman Ron Meyer said he’s “heard directly from senior GOP conservative members in the House that Speaker Boehner does not have a majority of support from the GOP caucus–not even close.”
“These sources tell me Boehner has indicated he won’t bring up a plan without 50% GOP support,” Meyer said. “The McConnell-Biden compromise does not meet that threshold.”
AMA was out in front in accurately predicting the failure of Boehner’s fiscal cliff “Plan B” before Christmas – even when House GOP leaders like Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Boehner himself claimed they had the votes to pass it. Boehner ultimately cancelled the scheduled floor vote before the plan would have failed because his own caucus didn’t support his effort.
Citing an anonymous “Democratic source,” Politico reports that the Biden-McConnell deal “includes a two-month delay of the sequester, which had been scheduled to begin on Jan. 2.”
“President Barack Obama spoke with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi about the agreement and both leaders have signed off on it, according to the source,” Politico added.
The Senate could vote late Monday on the deal, after–according to the Washington Post–Biden tries to sell it to the Senate Democrats this evening.
If the House is to vote on the deal, it would likely do so on Tuesday–New Year’s Day–meaning the country would technically fly over the fiscal cliff before congressional and White House leaders undid the move before any of the damage set in.