House Republicans pull 'Plan B' on 'fiscal cliff' following failure to pass tax plan
Washington, Dec. 21 (ANI)
House Speaker John Boehner has pulled the Republican package known as 'Plan B' that was meant to show Republicans were acting to prevent a tax cut for the majority of Americans while allowing tax rates to go up on millionaires.
In a hastily called meeting of House Republicans, Boehner first led members in the 'Serenity Prayer' asking God to 'accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference'.
Members in the room said that he announced to the Republican Conference that there weren't enough votes to pass the tax plan, CBS News reports.
According to the report, Boehner told them that he would still be open to working with President Barack Obama on a deal or the president could work with Senate Democrats on a package.
GOP leaders hoped that they could pass 'Plan B' and send it to the Senate for Democrats there to either change and send back to the House or to serve as a vehicle for a final deal to avoid the 'fiscal cliff', the report added.
"The president has called on the House again and again to pass a bill to protect 98 percent of the American people from a tax hike" Boehner told reporters.
"Well, today we're going to do better than that, our bill would protect 99.81 percent of the American people from an increase in taxes," he said.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor even predicted the package would pass.
"We're going to have the votes to pass both the permanent tax relief bill as well as the spending reduction package," he said.
But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., made it clear that the Republican bill would go nowhere in the Senate.
"We are not taking up any of the things that they're working on over there now" Reid told reporters.
"It's time for Republicans to get serious. It's very, very, very unfortunate the Republicans have wasted an entire week on a number of pointless political stunts and that's what they've been," he added.