Update on the GOP mess in the House

[octoberlib]

The Senate’s New Year’s Eve compromise on the "fiscal cliff" hit major turbulence in the House on Tuesday, and the Republican majority is likely to try to amend the bill and send it back to the Senate, House Republicans said.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told his conference he is flatly opposed to the Senate bill without more spending cuts, members said as they emerged from a nearly two-hour Republican meeting in the Capitol.According to sources in the room, Cantor said that he did not "support" the Senate-backed bill but stopped short of saying he would vote against it if the House took it up on the floor.
GOP leaders repeated "10 to 15 times" that they would only take up an amendment if 218 House Republicans will vote for the amendment.Democrats are all but certain to oppose any amendment to the Senate-passed bill and GOP leaders are not willing to take a chance that their own rank-and-file members would kill it.
Spokesmen for Boehner and Cantor issued an unusual joint statement after the meeting, saying there was “universal concern among members” about the Senate bill.
GOP leaders plan to reconvene the rank-and-file around 5 p.m. on Tuesday.Boehner told his conference that he was "shocked" that so many Senate Republicans voted for the bill, but he would not indicate how he felt personally about the direction the House should move in."He said he was not in favor of the Senate bill," Jones said of Cantor. "I think the Speaker was as open today as I have ever seen him to the will of what the conference wants."At this point, House GOP leaders are meeting to hammer out a way forward that could include taking the bill up as-is and letting it pass with primarily Democratic votes or amending it in some way that would garner at least 218 House GOP votes, Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) told The Hill.The general consensus among House GOP lawmakers, however, was that the Senate-passed bill spends too much and cuts too little.

Brent Bozell, a prominent conservative activist and fundraiser, said Tuesday the Republican Party would loose its "soul" if House lawmakers vote for Senate legislation raising taxes on the wealthy.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/275101-senate-fiscal-cliff-deal-in-trouble-in-house




What soul???

[Motown_Johnny]

1. As if the Republican Party has a soul... or any of it's members for that matter.

[NashvilleLefty]

2. By "soul" they mean $$$$$$. nt

[PoliticAverse]

3. 'would loose its "soul" if House lawmakers vote for Senate legislation raising taxes on the wealthy'

And if nothing gets agreed to, taxes on the wealthy go up even more.

[quinnox]

4. it would be ironic of the house republicans killed the deal and forced the best course

which is for all the tax rates to go up.