Harry Reid: House 'Having Trouble' on Debt Ceiling

Harry Reid tossed some zingers at Republicans last night after they failed to vote on John Boehner’s debt ceiling plan. Reid adjourned the Senate just before 11pm, the Hill reports, saying, “I apologize to everyone for the late hour, but we've been waiting for the House to conduct their business and they're having trouble conducting it.” Asked by a Talking Points Memo reporter if he had expected the non-vote, he replied, “With their performance the last few days, I don’t expect anything.”

Indeed, the Washington Post offers a frankly hilarious look at yesterday’s scramble for votes in the House. One undecided Republican says that by 7:20am he’d been pestered three times—including once while he was naked in the gym. Boehner was apparently three votes short, sources tell the Huffington Post, with some reps bothered by the $17 billion in Pell Grants funding added to the bill in a bid to attract Democrats. The Republican caucus will meet at 10am this morning to try to pick up the pieces; Senate Democrats will meet around the same time. For more details, click here. (More debt ceiling stories.)