With 85 Republicans voting with House Democrats, the partial agreement designed to prevent roughly 99% of Americans from feeling the sting of the fiscal cliff passed the House. The vote in the House revealed just how deep the rift in the Republican Party has become. Excluding Boehner, all of the top House Republicans--including Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.--voted against the measure.
This would make the second time that John Boehner's party has left him with egg on his face. His hold on his caucus has all but dissipated. The disastrous attempt to pass a Republican version of a fiscal cliff measure failed because Boehner could not get enough votes from his own party to pass it. The House is still heavily influenced by Tea Party delegates, all who are staunch supporters of the Grover Norquist tax ideology. Boehner has been castrated by his own party; his lack of power is so evident that President Obama stopped bothering to meet with him to discuss the impending national issue. Obama got most of what he wanted from the deal whereas the Republicans walked away with none of their primary demands, which involved cutting down Social Security and Medicare.
The supposed gameplan for Republicans is to make a comeback by using the approaching debt ceiling crisis as an opportunity to have their demands met regarding giving Social Security and Medicare a serious haircut. President Obama is threatening to intercede in the event that a standoff occurs regarding the debt ceiling after the United States lost its stellar credit rating because of a failure to raise the debt ceiling last year. There was talk by many from the Tea Party clan of allowing the government to shut down for the sake of principle.
John Boehner's position as Speaker of the House is on shaky ground. The congressional lineup will shake-up tomorrow as the victors of the 2012 elections take office. Speaker Boehner, however, may actually be safe given that no Republican in their right mind wants to take his place.
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