SHOWDOWN

Debt Plan Hits House Floor

Senate Dems still promise to block it.

As the House began debating Speaker John Boehner's debt plan, House Republican leaders gathered in a closed-door meeting on Thursday to discuss how they will push their case in the Senate. Boehner seemed confident that the House majority would approve his plan, which would cut the deficit $917 billion over 10 years while raising the debt ceiling for 10 months. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that if Boehner's proposal passed the House, Senate Dems would undoubtedly reject the legislation. "No Democrat will vote for a short-term Band-Aid that would put our economy at risk and put the nation back in this untenable situation a few short months from now,” he said. Boehner fired back, saying that if his plan was rejected, Democrats would be to blame for a potential economic crisis: "When the House takes action, the United States will have no more excuses for inaction."