Ed Schultz's show just reported live that McCarthy, the Republican whip, has announced there will be NO VOTE tonight.
I'll add more in a moment - wanted to get this up as it's happening.
As of my writing of this at 10:30pm ET, Asian markets are mostly down as they were an hour ago, but not astronomically so. I would expect that to change with news that the House vote didn't occur (but what do I know?).
Google news still doesn't reflect the "no vote tonight" story. I'm anxiously checking to see if anyone is giving interviews on this from the batshit insane - er - Republican party.
The website for House Majority Whip McCarthy is interesting on two fronts: for one, it doesn't say a thing about the no vote tonight (ya think maybe people would be interested in that?). For another, its "twitterbuzz" section features Whip and Speaker tweets that are 2 to 3 days old. Guess there's not much to say when you're a big FAIL.
Equally amusing is Boehner's Facebook page. If you have some time to kill as this drama unfolds, check out the comments attached to the video on his wall - "Let's pass this bill and end the debt limit crisis". So much to say about that - the "crisis" is manufactured, and a clean debt ceiling bill is probably looking pretty attractive to soon-to-be ex-Speaker Boehner.
Reuters has the story now.
The House of Representatives will not vote tonight on a plan to raise the debt limit as Republican leaders have struggled to line up support for the measure, Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy said on Thursday.
Somehow I don't think McCarthy said that he's struggling to line up support - but I like the wording that makes him look like he did!!
No word yet on Asian market reaction to the cancelation of the vote.
I don't usually like to repeat what others have written just for the sake of courtesy, but Kaili Joy Gray has this item on the FP:
House Republican leaders have postponed indefinitely a vote on Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) debt-limit bill after they could not persuade enough Republicans to support the measure.
My emphasis added. "Postponed indefinitely". I wonder if Boehner's crying right now?
Hey. Lawrence O'Donnell is on LIVE talking about this right now! That's awesome. I hope he's able to dig up some inside information. O'Donnell reports that Boehner has lost as many as 24 votes, and that it will be revised tonight to be brought to a vote in the morning.
Anyone want to lay bets on whether it gets crazier or appeals to Democrats??