GOP Votes Scarce to Raise Debt Limit

Speaker John Boehner “has his work cut out for him in passing a bill to raise the $18.1 trillion debt ceiling,” The Hill reports.

“The lame-duck Speaker needs to win 30 Republican votes to lift the government’s borrowing limit, even if the entire House Democratic Caucus votes with him. Boehner was only able to pull 28 votes the last time the House approved a clean debt-ceiling increase — and one-third of those lawmakers have since left Congress.”