Dems to House GOP: The answer is No

By Greg Sargent, WashPost, Updated: October 15 at 11:53 am

House Republican leaders, apparently desperate to prevent any House vote on the emerging bipartisan Senate deal to end the crisis, have rolled out a new plan designed to reopen the government and lift the debt limit, but on their own terms. The House GOP plan would fund government until January 15th and lift the debt limit into early February, just as the Senate one does — but also require Dems accept significant changes to Obamacare, which they aren’t going to do.

Dem Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a key ally of the Dem leadership and White House, told House Democrats at a private meeting today that a vote for the new House GOP plan is a vote for a deliberate Tea Party effort to sabotage the emerging Senate deal.

In an interview with me, Van Hollen strongly suggested it will get no Democratic votes, which could call into question the ability of Republicans to pass this plan through the House, as some conservatives are already balking at it because it raises the debt limit

“This has no Democratic support,” Van Hollen told me. “It is a recipe for default. The Democratic leadership told the caucus that a vote for this is a vote for default and for keeping the government shut down. Democrats understood that this is exactly what this was.”

(More here.)