I believe he's waiting for Reid to put forward a proposal so that McConnell can filibuster it; that way, Boehner can claim the "Democrat Senate" couldn't pass its own bill either. Would explain why McConnell won't comment on his intent to filibuster or not. I don't believe they (Boehner/McConnell) have any serious intention to avert the cliff. They're just scratching for some kind of edge message-wise.