Reid: The House is ‘having trouble’ conducting its work 
 
 By Josiah Ryan - 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) criticized his colleagues in the House for failing to send the upper chamber the material it needs to work before he adjourned the Senate just before 11 p.m. Thursday. 
 
 “I apologize to everyone for the late hour, but we’ve been waiting for the House to conduct their business and they’re having trouble conducting it,” Reid said. “As a result of their not sending us the material we needed, we are going to have to wait until tomorrow to do our work.” 
 
 House Republican leadership postponed a vote on Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) deficit-reduction plan indefinitely as they scrambled to whip together enough votes for it to clear the lower chamber. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) finally announced at around 10:30 p.m. that the vote would not take place Thursday. 
 
 Reid said the Senate would convene at 9:30 a.m. Friday and quickly recess to accommodate a Senate Democratic Conference meeting. The Senate will reconvene at 11 a.m. ||||| TPM caught up with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) just after he closed down business in the Senate for the night because House Republicans weren’t able to get enough votes to pass House Speaker John Boehner’s debt ceiling proposal. 
 
 Asked if he had expected the day to end with no vote in the House, Reid told TPM, “With their performance the last few days I don’t expect anything.” 
 
 Reid said Boehner hasn’t been in communication about the House’s legislative outlook. 
 
 “I haven’t been helping them to arrange their schedule,” Reid said. “We have a plan. We know what we’re gonna do. We’ll wait and see what they’re gonna do.” 
 
 Asked by another reporter if the failure of the House vote made it more likely Democrats will get what they want out of the debt ceiling deal. 
 
 “I think the most likely thing is they’re having a lot of trouble getting what they want done,” Reid said. “I guess it’s a moving vehicle, so we’ll see.” 
 
 Ryan J. Reilly Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com. ||||| The lobbying for Rep. Tim Walberg’s debt-ceiling vote began early Thursday morning. The third time it happened, it was only 7:20 a.m. and he was naked. 
 
 “Hey, Walberg!” a voice called out to the two-term Republican congressman from Michigan, who was in the shower at the House gym. “Are you with us?” 
 
 Walberg, 60, would not disclose the name of the other congressman, who wanted to know: “Have you come on over?” 
 
 Walberg gave the same answer he had already given twice that morning. “Still undecided,” he said uncomfortably. “But let’s do this at some other time.” 
 
 On Capitol Hill, Thursday was a tough day for the undecided — and for the Republican leaders trying desperately to persuade them. 
 
 The House was supposed to vote on a GOP bill to resolve the debt ceiling, which had become a test of the party’s ability to unite in a crisis. Bosses spent hours nagging, debating, pep-talking and outright badgering a small band of legislators who were still on the fence. 
 
 They couldn’t close the deal and, at the end of a very long day, both sides had learned bitter lessons: Political newcomers learned what an old-fashioned Washington squeeze play felt like. Party leaders learned that old-fashioned doesn’t quite work as it used to. 
 
 “I need your vote. I want your vote,” Walberg recalled House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) telling him at one point during the day. “Why can’t I have your vote?” 
 
 Boehner’s bill proposed to raise the debt ceiling in two steps and to require a bipartisan commission to find $1.8 trillion in new cuts from federal spending. At first, many conservatives thought it hadn’t gone far enough, and they held out for a constitutional amendment that would mandate a balanced budget. 
 
 But as the week went on, many “nos” had begun to turn to “yes.” 
 
 Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Tex.), a bespectacled obstetrician, sat alone at his office desk until 3 a.m. Thursday, then decided to back Boehner. Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.), a former car dealer, mulled his decision over a glass of Jack Daniel’s whiskey. “Jack and I think about things now and then,” he said. He was a “yes.” 
 
 Thursday was closing day. GOP leaders wouldn’t say how many legislators they thought were up for grabs Thursday morning; Hill newspapers guessed there were several dozen. 
 
 Lobbying began in earnest at a 9 a.m. meeting of House Republicans. 
 
 “Working on it,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga (Mich.). Huizenga, 42, a freshman and former state legislator, was fending off a question from the party’s whip, Kevin McCarthy (Calif.). 
 
 “Today’s the day,” McCarthy told him. Minutes later, a pair of other legislators from Michigan sidled up to Huizenga to check again. “So. We any closer?” 
 
 The meeting itself revealed how much Boehner and other GOP leaders had managed to achieve already. A few days ago, Rep. Mike Kelly (Pa.), a car dealer and freshman legislator, had seemed dead-set against a compromise like this one. 
 
 Now, he was literally shouting for it. “Buckle your chin straps. Run out on the field. Let’s knock the [expletive] out of them!” Kelly, a former Notre Dame football player, told the group, a witness said. 
 
 Standing at the edge of the room, Rep. Harold “Trey” Gowdy (S.C.), a 46-year-old former prosecutor, was thinking of somebody who wasn’t there. 
 
 “I was thinking about a furniture salesman in Westminster, South Carolina, who — but for one vote — might be the governor of South Carolina,” Gowdy said. He meant former representative J. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.), a friend who had supported his party’s leadership on another controversial vote, the one that approved the Troubled Assets Relief Program in 2008. 
 
 That vote had made the party happy, but it cost Barrett. Conservative voters turned on him, and he lost in a gubernatorial primary. Gowdy was leaning toward a “no” vote: Barrett’s example was a reason not to get rah-rahed into changing his mind. 
 
 “I was actually wondering whether or not [Barrett] sat through some of the same conversations like that one,” Gowdy said. 
 
 At noon, it still seemed that some legislators might indeed be lost causes. 
 
 Rep. Mo Brooks (Ala.), a 57-year-old longtime politician, went to the House floor to denounce Boehner’s plan as inadequate. He carried a typewritten speech with him that said, “America deserves better.” Then he amended it in pen, to add “now!” Then he read it that way. “America deserves better — now!” he said. 
 
 Afterward, Brooks said he hadn’t been moved by appeals that the party needed a “yes” vote from him. He was leaning toward “no.” 
 
 “Everyone wants to be part of the team,” he said. “But at some point, you have to think about Team America.” 
 
 But as the afternoon lengthened, Republican leaders put on the full press. As members gathered on the House floor for a series of other votes, leaders cornered them one by one. Cantor approached Huizenga, the holdout from Michigan, and gave him the message again: “We need you.” A few hours later, Huizenga said he was a “yes.” 
 
 McCarthy walked over to Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), the House budget chairman beloved by conservatives. McCarthy drew a circle in the air with his index finger. That meant circulate, and lobby. 
 
 Ryan and Cantor sought out Brooks, the Alabama firebrand who had just denounced Boehner’s plan on the floor a few hours before. Joined by another GOP leader, they took turns talking to him — making the case that Boehner’s bill was still better than risking a national default. 
 
 “I’m wrestling with trying to find which one is the least bad,” Brooks said after the leaders were done with him. “Not a fun thing to have to do.” 
 
 Late Thursday, GOP leaders were calling in the undecideds one by one, trying one more time to gain their votes. Two South Carolina legislators were so affected by the experience that they immediately went to the Capitol chapel to pray. 
 
 Night fell, and the votes still weren’t there. Party leaders brought in Gowdy, among more than a dozen other lawmakers, and they talked in a suite of rooms in the Capitol for more than three hours. 
 
 At the end of all that, Gowdy was still a “no.” Walberg was still undecided. Brooks could not be reached for comment. Close to 10:30 p.m., party leaders agreed to withdraw their bill and make unspecified changes, in the hopes of bringing in more votes. 
 
 “I said I couldn’t support the bill in its current form. And I picked those words for a reason,” Gowdy said afterward. 
 
 So, could he support a revised bill? 
 
 Gowdy said he was still undecided. “We’ll see tomorrow,” he said. 
 
 When the vote finally took place Friday evening, Gowdy voted no, one of 22 Republicans who lined up against the bill as it passed the House. Walberg was a yes. 
 
 Staff writers Paul Kane and Felicia Sonmez contributed to this report. 
 
 Read more on PostPolitics.com 
 
 The Fix: Why Mitch McConnell’s next moves matter 
 
 White House: Debt fight could ruin Christmas 
 
 Interactive: What are the Senate’s options? ||||| Neither the House nor the Senate had a clear path forward for must-pass legislation to allow the government to continue to borrow to pay its bills, putting lawmakers and financial markets alike on edge less than a week before the deadline for heading off the nation's first default in modern history. 
 
 House Speaker John Boehner hastily rewrote his stalled debt-limit bill again Friday, and former conservative foes began climbing aboard. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid signaled he's ready to push ahead with his own version, and President Barack Obama declared "we're almost out of time" in a wrenching political standoff that has heightened fears of a market-rattling government default. 
 
 Without a deal by Tuesday, the Obama administration has said the government will be unable to pay all its bills, and could miss checks to Social Security recipients, veterans and others who depend on public help. In addition, credit rating agencies could downgrade their assessment of the government's finances, further unnerving financial markets and perhaps causing interest rates to rise for everyone. 
 
 Despite his image as a button-down Republican, House Speaker John Boehner walked to the brink of a dramatic and historic agreement to change the government's spending habits. 
 
 But as he twice approached a $4 trillion deficit-reduction deal with President Barack Obama that would have rocked both parties' bases, Boehner was reeled back in by his caucus' conservative wing. The muscular, Tea Party-fueled group not only forced him to abandon a "grand bargain" with Obama, it made him scramble Wednesday to secure the votes for a far more modest deficit-ceiling plan, which in turn is all but doomed in the Senate. 
 
 The events highlight the limits of power for an experienced and well-liked politician who has struggled to budge his caucus' staunchest conservatives despite constantly reminding them that their party doesn't control the Senate or White House. 
 
 Check back here for the latest developments. ||||| WASHINGTON -- A Republican plan that would have hiked the nation's debt ceiling for only six months and left the country's spending captive to a "Super Congress" failed to advance in the House Thursday night, with Democrats and Tea Party-backed Republicans opposing the plan. 
 
 House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had initially scheduled a 6 p.m. vote on his measure which, in addition to raising the debt ceiling, would have cut $915 billion in spending and set up a 12-legislator commission to compel another $1.8 trillion in reductions over 10 years. The vote was then postponed to later Thursday night, but House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced just before 10:30 p.m. that a vote would not occur until the following morning at least. 
 
 Boehner had already gone back and restructured his plan, after the Congressional Budget Office revealed Tuesday that it contained only $850 billion in cuts -- less than the plan put forth by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). 
 
 But even after his plan was re-scored -- and he spent more than a day leaning on reluctant members -- Boehner was short at least three votes, sources said. 
 
 The Hill reported that the $17 billion in funding for Pell grants contained in the bill, added in part to lure some Democrats, was a major stumbling block for some members. And many Tea Party-backed Republican freshmen oppose any increase in the debt ceiling whatsoever. 
 
 Boehner and his leadership team worked for hours, but they were unable to salvage the bill and secure the votes, marking a stunning failure for a party leader on a crucial piece of legislation. 
 
 It was unclear if Boehner would try to bring the bill up again, or if the way was now clear for Reid to advance his plan, which would cut $2.2 trillion over ten years and raise the debt ceiling enough to last into 2013. 
 
 Democrats suspected Boehner's efforts were done. "If he can’t get the votes tonight he’ll never get them. You can’t put this toothpaste back in the tube," one Senate leadership aide said. 
 
 The high-stakes showdown marks the first time in U.S. history that the nation has come so close to being unable to pay its bills. The debt limit -- $14.3 trillion -- was hit in May, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has been using emergency measures since then to juggle the books. He has warned that if the limit is not increased by Aug. 2, the federal government will risk defaulting on its obligations. 
 
 Raising the debt ceiling has historically been a routine procedure; Congress has done it dozens of times in the past with no strings attached. 
 
 Yet even as Geithner and other economists have warned of calamitous consequences if the nation defaults, Tea Party-backed Republicans have insisted on linking payment of the country’s bills to huge cuts in future spending. 
 
 That position started out as a relatively popular one, with many Americans also opposed to raising the debt limit altogether. But many have since changed their minds; recent polls have shown that while most Americans think spending cuts are important, they also believe that the debt limit must be increased before the federal government defaults. 
 
 As credit rating agencies have warned that they may downgrade the United States' debt, a move that could increase interest rates on home loans, student loans, and credit card bills, Americans have become more and more concerned. The slight hike in interest rates that would result from the country losing its AAA credit rating would also mean the federal government would face an extra $100 billion a year in borrowing costs. 
 
 Ironically, the speaker wound up in such a tough spot after he walked out of talks at the White House, where he was negotiating a "grand bargain" with President Barack Obama and congressional leaders. Boehner left, he said, because the president was seeking too much in revenue. Yet while the sides differed on the details, the deficit reduction package would have ultimately been larger than either Boehner's or Reid's, and would have included around $1 trillion in revenues paired with some $3 trillion in cuts. 
 
 Republicans have been adamant that taxes cannot be raised on the wealthy, and that corporate tax loopholes and oil subsidies cannot be ended. Many members of the Tea Party have continued to insist, meanwhile, that warnings of catastrophe were exaggerated and the debt ceiling should not be raised at all. 
 
 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) released a statement soon after Boehner gave up for the night, suggesting he had simply gone too far. 
 
 “Hopefully, now the Republicans will come back to the table to negotiate a bipartisan, balanced agreement that is overwhelmingly supported by the American people," Pelosi said. “Republicans have taken us to the brink of economic chaos. The delay must end now so we can focus on the American people’s top priority: creating jobs and growing the economy.” 
 
 What happens now depends on whether Boehner keeps trying. 
 
 Even if Boehner is able to get his bill through the House, a Senate Democratic aide told The Huffington Post that Reid would quickly move to defeat the measure, then put his own package up for a vote. 
 
 Democrats may also focus on getting Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) back to the negotiating table. Exactly what McConnell would demand was unclear, but Democrats could propose some sort of trigger mechanism that would force deeper cuts later in exchange for a debt ceiling hike now -- an idea that GOP lawmakers may find agreeable, but which advocates for the poor and elderly believe would be devastating to the social safety net. 
 
 The savings in Reid's plan come primarily from discretionary spending cuts and the drawdown of troops from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Like Boehner's plan, it would set up a super committee of 12 lawmakers to propose additional cuts, including entitlement reforms, which would then go to the House and Senate for simple up-or-down votes. But Reid’s version, unlike Boehner's, guarantees the debt ceiling is extended into 2013, which would push it past the next elections and which many ratings agencies would prefer. 
 
 If Reid can get the legislation out of the Senate -- where there would be at least one filibuster vote -- the measure might be able to attract enough Democrats and Republicans to pass it in the House. There also remains a chance that leaders could revive McConnell's idea of voting to give the White House authority to make cuts and debt limit hikes in three steps. 
 
 Jennifer Bendery and Elise Foley contributed reporting.
– Harry Reid tossed some zingers at Republicans last night after they failed to vote on John Boehner’s debt ceiling plan. Reid adjourned the Senate just before 11pm, the Hill reports, saying, “I apologize to everyone for the late hour, but we've been waiting for the House to conduct their business and they're having trouble conducting it.” Asked by a Talking Points Memo reporter if he had expected the non-vote, he replied, “With their performance the last few days, I don’t expect anything.” Indeed, the Washington Post offers a frankly hilarious look at yesterday’s scramble for votes in the House. One undecided Republican says that by 7:20am he’d been pestered three times—including once while he was naked in the gym. Boehner was apparently three votes short, sources tell the Huffington Post, with some reps bothered by the $17 billion in Pell Grants funding added to the bill in a bid to attract Democrats. The Republican caucus will meet at 10am this morning to try to pick up the pieces; Senate Democrats will meet around the same time. For more details, click here.