For Speaker John Boehner, an even bigger debt-ceiling test looms in House

By David A. Fahrenthold and Dan Balz, Sunday, July 31, 6:25 AM

For weeks, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) tried to be the kind of speaker he wanted to be, with dreams of negotiating a big budget deal with President Obama. On Friday, he became the kind of speaker he had to be, yielding to rebellious tea party conservatives and altering his bill to raise the debt ceiling to avoid a humiliating defeat.
But that was hardly a resolution of the crisis. It was a victory — on his fourth try — that underscored the gap between the parties, as the bill was immediately scuttled in the Senate

On Saturday, the search for a real compromise began, with both sides vowing to try to pass something before Tuesday’s deadline. When a measure returns to the House, Boehner and his lieutenants will face perhaps their most severe test as they attempt to round up votes for a bill certain to be even less palatable to conservatives than the one approved Friday.
All this has created doubts about Boehner’s leadership. Will he emerge from this battle weakened, or, despite the setbacks he has endured, could he find himself strengthened within his party? Democrats and some in the media already have cast him as surely weakened, and there is speculation about his eventual hold on power depending on how the final chapter plays out.
Boehner has remained the upbeat, if emotional, warrior in these last days, evidenced by his comments at a meeting of Republicans on Friday morning and his fiery speech on the House floor Friday night. For now, Republicans have rallied around him publicly, or at least given him the benefit of the doubt.
“I think he’s gotten through this better than most people might initially believe,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.). “I think Boehner is strong with the members. Even the members who didn’t vote with him respected the manner in which he operated.”
But as the week showed, respect isn’t enough. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) opposed both versions of the Boehner bill.
“I told the speaker: ‘I support you. I just don’t support your bill,’ ” Chaffetz said.
The debt-ceiling battle leaves the ultimate judgment on Boehner’s speakership — and the reputation of his leadership team — open. There is no question that leading the House today is more difficult than in some times past, given intense partisanship and a Republican conference that includes 87 new members, many of whom came to Washington with tea party backing and a determination not to play by accepted rules.
Republican leaders took advantage of that sentiment to win their majority in November. Did they underestimate the problems that could lead to as they tried to govern?
At the same time, it is unclear whether a stronger speaker, with a greater command of his sometimes-defiant membership, could have coaxed them to accept the kind of deal that was on the table with the president.
Aides to Boehner would respond only to written questions about the impact of the battle on the speaker’s reputation. Spokesman Michael Steel said that, almost no matter the outcome, the speaker and his party can take credit for changing the debate in Washington.

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