Boehner fights for debt ceiling bill, as protesters rally against him

WEST CHESTER, Ohio - The federal government is now just over 4 days away from maxing out its credit card. House Speaker John Boehner is having real trouble even getting Republicans to pass his debt ceiling bill.

There's a good chance the West Chester congressman may not even have time on Friday to realize there is a protest rally outside his local offices.

Opponents are planning to stage a protest at 10 a.m. on Friday, as a counter to Monday's tea party support rally. Protests will be calling on the House Speaker to spare social security, medicare, medicaid and college scholarship programs from funding cuts.

That rally comes as Boehner struggles to get enough Republican support to pass his latest debt ceiling-budget cutting plans in Washington, D.C.

Thursday night, a vote on that plan was postponed for lack of support among his own party members.

Congressman Boehner told reporters late Thursday, "The bill's not perfect, I've never said it was perfect, nobody in my caucus believes it is perfect. But what this bill reflects is a sincere, honest effort to end this crisis."

Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, "What we need to do is get beyond, you know, voting on dead-on-arrival measures that aren't going to become law when we have so few days left to reach a compromise."

Carney was referring to the fact that 53 Democratic senators have written a letter to Speaker Boehner saying they oppose his debt ceiling bill and will vote against it, if and when it arrives in the Senate.

Before the house convenes at 11 a.m. Friday morning, it's expected Boehner will be spending the morning, twisting the arms of more house republicans to see if he can get enough votes for his almost $1 trillion in cuts to raise the federal debt ceiling before Tuesday.

We'll continue to watch what happens in Washington and at the protest in West Chester, with updates here at WCPO.com and later with stories on 9 News.