Congressman on the Boehner plan: "This vote is a referendum on Obama and Beohner."

Congressman Gregg Harper is up on Capitol Hill in the thick of the debt-ceiling drama. He brings us the latest news on the issue and explains why he's voting for the Boehner bill.


Congressman Gregg Harper, bring us up-to-date on the debt-ceiling!

Matt, it's like a nip and tuck football game trying to keep up with everything here on the ground.

The cuts (in the Boehner bill) were supposed to be $1.2 trillion and instead cut $851 billion.

As of last night, it became apparent that we don't have the necessary 216 votes.

We've got a conference meeting at 10 o'clock and we'll see what happens there.

There's so much to talk about here. We've got a conservative civil war here, with good conservatives on both sides. What's going on?

I may agree with you that it may not even come up for a vote on the Senate side.

Cut, Cap, and Balance that passed last week - the Senate did nothing.

This is day 821 since the Senate passed a budget.

We're doing the things that you have to do to govern.

I think right now we have three choices. We can do nothing, knowing that they're not going to bring up Cut, Cap, and Balance regardless.

We can vote against this bill, which is what Obama wants.

Or we can vote for it, which is obviously what the Republican leadership wants.

Why is President Obama pulling out every political stop, everything you can do...or now, yesterday Christmas...That the Republicans might bring this up before the end of the year, it will hurt Christmas.

I'm as upset about some of their things as I've ever been. This is something that should not be happening.

Why can't the Republicans say, Look we've voted for a great bill, now it's the President's turn?

It's one bill and a lengthy process of battles.

Does it move the ball forward, yes.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not.

This is the first time there's ever been a debt-ceiling vote that included spending cuts.

This plan has no new taxes in it.

I don't think that you can say the Republicans have blinked.

The adult thing right now would not be to sit back.

In the event that this goes over to the Senate, and let's say it's amended in the Senate, it will be voted against.

Whatever the House passes, the Senate will amend and send back. How does the Boehner bill help? At the end of the day, we'll still be in a stare-down.

Then you have to ask, what happens in the meantime.

Here's one thing that we do know. The August 2nd date is the targeted date where we bump up against the debt-ceiling.

Here's what's going to happen if we don't have a deal. This is why we've tried; they've blocked in every way.

This is what's very dangerous. Right now we have pay $259 billion a year in debt service.

S&P says they need cuts of $4 trillion....Boehner said in May that the cuts would be trillions, not billions. Why not cut more?

We're in this mess not because of a lack of revenue. Look where we are on Obama's spending.

How uncomfortable is it to have good friend and stellar conservatives on both sides?

I would say this, that the ones that are voting no, probably numbers about 25 people. So the yes's are just short of the 216.

But you've gotta get 216, because there's not one Democrat who will vote for the plan.

This vote is a referendum on Obama and Beohner.