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For Speaker John Boehner, an even bigger debt-ceiling test looms in House

By David A. Fahrenthold and Dan Balz,July 30, 2011

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A leadership aide said the fact that Boehner responded by redrawing his bill did not set a bad precedent. “The speaker has been clear that the majority is going to operate differently,” said Cantor spokesman Brad Dayspring. “It’s going to operate collectively.”

One of the holdouts at the McCarthy pizza party was freshman Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.). He said he let out a whoop Friday morning when he heard that Boehner was making changes in his plan, including a requirement that Congress approve a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution before a second increase in the debt ceiling could occur.

Had he and his fellow holdouts shown that the House was no longer governable under the normal terms?

“We’re the people’s house,” he said. “We’re not supposed to be governed.”

Boehner’s colleagues sympathized with his situation Thursday, even as they resisted. Rep. Raul R. Labrador (R-Idaho) said the speaker was making the best of a difficult situation. “He knew he could not come to [me] and say, ‘Hey, you’ll get a bridge in Idaho,’ ” Labrador said. “He’s trying to use gentle persuasion.”

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), one of Boehner’s closest friends, said Boehner’s relatively light touch is simply the way the speaker prefers to do business. “That’s not going to change,” he said.

Even if Boehner had tried to strong-arm the holdouts, he would have risked further embarrassment.

“You can even physically whip [the holdouts] and you’re not going to get these guys to believe that the world ends on August 2nd,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.).

Not even gentle persuasion could overcome higher powers Thursday. As Boehner was in his meetings, three freshman Republicans from South Carolina were in the House chapel nearby, in quiet discussion and in prayer. Reps. Mick Mulvaney, Tim Scott and Jeff Duncan wanted a stronger provision to guarantee a balanced-budget amendment and knew they would be lobbied furiously in the hours to come.

At one point, Duncan said, Mulvaney picked up a Bible and read a verse from Proverbs 22: “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”

“It’s telling me to really be bold, to really fight for structural changes,” Duncan said.

“Mulvaney snapped the Bible closed. And I said, ‘Guys, that’s all I need to see,’ ” Duncan said. “Tim said, ‘Yep.’ And we stood up and walked out.”

Boehner has faced challenges as well, or at least the perception of challenges, from his own leadership team. Cantor long has been seen as, if not a direct rival, an uncertain ally to the speaker in some of the battles.

It was Cantor, others say, who played the most direct role in helping to upend the initial round of negotiations between the speaker and the president. Over the past two weeks, however, Cantor has stood firmly with Boehner.

McCarthy’s whip operation has come in for criticism for its handling of the Boehner bill that was pulled from the floor. Veteran Republicans say the current whip operation is far less effective than those in previous Congresses.

Freshman Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.), a reluctant supporter of the original Boehner plan, said he appreciated the speaker’s willingness to give in without punishing those who held out. But he pointed to Boehner’s next problem, which will be corralling a bipartisan majority for whatever compromise that may emerge from the weekend. “There’s been an amazing test of his leadership already,” Rokita said, “and his test may not be over.”

Staff writers Rosalind S. Helderman, Paul Kane, Lori Montgomery and Felicia Sonmez contributed to this report.

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