Watch Live: Boehner Plan Debated in the House

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House Speaker John Boehner’s plan to cut the deficit by $917 billion over 10 years and immediately raise the debt ceiling by $900 billion will be debated on the floor of the House of Representatives, starting at 2 p.m. ET.

Though the bill is expected to fail in the Senate, the Morning Line sums up the stakes for Speaker Boehner here:

Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy have been getting their members in line in hopes of getting 217 “yeas” and passing the plan without any expected Democratic votes.

And find much more coverage of the debt debate on our politics page.

If Rep. Boehner loses this vote Thursday, he’ll be widely viewed as a speaker who has no control over his rank and file. Most Hill observers anticipate the bill will pass, and questions about his ability to wrangle the conservative and Tea Party-backed freshmen will be put to rest, for now. That’s what makes the vote so very meaningful.