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Washington • House Speaker John Boehner failed in his attempt to pass his debt limit plan on Thursday after a group of 25 Republicans refused to budge, among them Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.
Chaffetz and many of the other GOP holdouts say the House already passed the right bill — known as cut, cap and balance — which would allow the government to incur more debt now in exchange for the congressional passage of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. He complained that the current bill would do too little to solve the nation's fiscal crisis.
"I do not support the bill in the current structure," said Chaffetz, who was among the House members summoned to meetings with Republican leaders late Thursday. Chaffetz was unsure about the next step but said that the House speaker was "very, very close to getting this passed."
Boehner planned to bring his bill up for a vote around 6 p.m. but delayed when he realized he was a few votes short. He spent more than four hours trying to gain more support before saying that no vote would happen Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, announced his opposition to Boehner's plan but for other reasons than Chaffetz, while Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, sided with the majority of Republicans and said this was the appropriate way to head off the nation's first default.
Boehner's two-step plan seeks to boost the nation's borrowing power to handle expenses through the end of the year in exchange for spending cuts that will lower the national debt by $917 billion in a decade. Then it creates a special committee of Congress that would seek to cut more before allowing the debt limit to be raised to cover expected 2012 expenses.
Matheson criticized this short-term approach, saying it could threaten the nation's credit rating and result in increased interest rates for everyone.
"We should deliver on something more substantial than just a six-month effort. This sends all the wrong signals to the markets about the United States maintaining its triple AAA credit rating," Matheson said.
No House Democrat was expected to support the bill, which is also opposed by President Barack Obama and a majority of senators, who vowed to killed Boehner's proposal if given the chance.
The Democrats are pushing for a plan that would extend the debt limit through the end of 2012, avoiding another showdown as a presidential election creates an even more partisan atmosphere in Washington.
The debt limit allows the government to borrow money to pay for programs and expenses already approved by Congress. It does not authorize any new spending.