The Republican Party's right wing on Thursday blocked a strategy by House Speaker John Boehner for navigating a series of deadlines to keep the government funded and avoid a first-ever U.S. debt default.
Boehner and his leadership team revealed the first step of that plan to rank-and-file members early Thursday, urging conservatives to shift their assault on President Barack Obama's health care law to the coming fight over the federal debt limit. That would allow lawmakers in to try to reach agreement on a plan to fund federal agencies into the new fiscal year, which begins Tuesday, and avoid a shutdown.
But about two dozen hard-liners rejected that approach, saying they will not talk about the debt limit until the battle over government funding is resolved.