Boehner's Plan B Bombs

House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) Plan B was a bomb this evening. In fact, the compromise legislation — which was under the shadow of a veto threat anyway — didn’t even make it to the floor due to a lack of GOP support.

Says Boehner:

“The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass.  Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff.  The House has already passed legislation to stop all of the January 1 tax rate increases and replace the sequester with responsible spending cuts that will begin to address our nation’s crippling debt.  The Senate must now act.”

The House is now adjourned until after Christmas. The fiscal cliff just keeps coming closer.

The failure to even bring Plan B to the floor may have been pushback from conservatives, but gives Democrats some leverage in demanding that the Senate’s tax-cut extension (the original $250,000 proposal favored by President Obama) to the floor. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) claims there are enough votes from his party and moderate Republicans in the House for passage.

UPDATE: Here’s White House reaction — “The President’s main priority is to ensure that taxes don’t go up on 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses in just a few short days. The President will work with Congress to get this done and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy.”