# John Boehner has drawn a line in the sand. (Fiscal cliff) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 19, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-boehner-has-drawn-a-line-in-the-sand-fiscal-cliff/644569 "2012-12-19T20:42:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-boehner-has-drawn-a-line-in-the-sand-fiscal-cliff/644569/61 "2012-12-21T21:45:51Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > The more I look at Boehner’s actions the more I can’t help but think that deep down, in his heart-of-hearts John Boehner was secretly hoping the Mayans were right. That was “Plan C” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-boehner-has-drawn-a-line-in-the-sand-fiscal-cliff/644569/62 "2012-12-21T21:54:33Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > That just means 120 GOP voters, as opposed to the 218 he needed for his Plan B. So its not impossible Boehner can get enough votes on his side to bring a compromise to the floor and then pass it with Dem votes. > > And it is possible to circumvent the Hastert Rule with less then 120 GOP voters, though doing so would probably cause a pretty strong fracture in the GOP for the next Congress. Perhaps I don’t understand the Hastert Rule or its circumvention but I thought it required a majority of Republicans - 121 (241/2) to call for a vote. Requiring 218 Republicans would mean that Democratic reps could just stay home. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-boehner-has-drawn-a-line-in-the-sand-fiscal-cliff/644569/63 "2012-12-21T22:25:26Z")
Well, 175 Republicans supported the 2011 budget compromise. If Boehner genuinely can’t even get that many Republicans on board he’s in serious trouble, but I doubt that is the case. All it took was a handful of the craziest Tea Party congressmen to stop Plan B, so I’m not particularly surprised it was stopped. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-boehner-has-drawn-a-line-in-the-sand-fiscal-cliff/644569/64 "2012-12-21T22:28:45Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Perhaps I don’t understand the Hastert Rule or its circumvention but I thought it required a majority of Republicans - 121 (241/2) to call for a vote. Requiring 218 Republicans would mean that Democratic reps could just stay home. Yea, that’s my point. “Plan B” was never going to get any Dem votes (that was basically the point of its existing), so it required 218 Republicans to pledge that they’ll vote for it. There’s no “rule” that Boehner couldn’t bring it to the floor anyways, but as a practical matter, he doesn’t want to bring a bill to the floor that doesn’t have the votes to pass. So in that case, Boehner’s bar to pass as far as getting GOP support was a lot higher. The Hastert Rule was irrelevant, since the Speaker needed more votes from his caucus then those required by the rule. A “compromise” bill that requires Dem votes doesn’t have that problem. It doesn’t need 218 GOP votes to pass, since it can make up the difference with Dem votes. So it would only need 121 GOP votes to make it to the floor in the manner prescribed by the Hastert Rule. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-boehner-has-drawn-a-line-in-the-sand-fiscal-cliff/644569/65 "2012-12-21T22:45:39Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Well, 175 Republicans supported the 2011 budget compromise. If Boehner genuinely can’t even get that many Republicans on board he’s in serious trouble, but I doubt that is the case. All it took was a handful of the craziest Tea Party congressmen to stop Plan B, so I’m not particularly surprised it was stopped. Its surprising because it was basically a meaningless symbolic vote to make Obama look bad. It was never going to get through the Senate, so Boehner was free to throw a Conservative wishlist of repealing bank regulations and parts of Obamacare in it along with the budget stuff. And he had Cantor and and Ryan, who presumably have a lot of tea-party cred whipping up votes for it. Even Norquist gave it a stamp of approval. Having 36 or more party members balk at a symbolic vote to make the Prez look bad is pretty surprising, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-boehner-has-drawn-a-line-in-the-sand-fiscal-cliff/644569/66 "2012-12-21T23:18:48Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Well, if Boehner can deliver fifty Republican votes to the Obama plan, maybe the Democrats could see their way to joining those fifty in giving him the Speaker’s gavel again in January… Only if they get some really interesting pictures that they can use later in return for their votes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-boehner-has-drawn-a-line-in-the-sand-fiscal-cliff/644569/67 "2012-12-21T23:20:25Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > It’s nice to see there are some truly idiotic Conservatives/Libertarians in the House. Obama was content to go over the cliff. Now he’s really content to do so. Come January he’ll just pass a bill to reinstate the Bush Tax cuts for the middle class. At that point the House will be forced to vote for it. If they don’t, they’re the party who raised taxes on the middle class; if they do, Obama’s the guy who saved the middle class. Way to go guys and gals. Give up any kind of leverage and let the media portray you a unwilling to compromise for the next week on into the future. That’s a definite winning strategy. > > God, I hope the moronic GOP members who voted against Plan B get primaried to hell in 2014 and 2016. Holy crap, I agree 100% with this post. Are we sure the Mayans weren’t right after all? Not that Plan B stood a chance in the Senate, but it would have at least demonstrated Obama has someone to negotiate with. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-boehner-has-drawn-a-line-in-the-sand-fiscal-cliff/644569/68 "2012-12-21T23:34:24Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Holy crap, I agree 100% with this post. Even the part where he claims the Republicans unwillingness to compromise is a media creation? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-boehner-has-drawn-a-line-in-the-sand-fiscal-cliff/644569.md?page=3)