He would have to have Democrat votes, as I understand it, along with the GOP who will go along with it, to counter the fact that a sizable GOP block will not vote for it, period.
I don’t know that no Democrats would vote for it. Stranger, much stranger things have happened. There are still a few blue dogs who want to appear fiscally conservative...never mind if they are fakes. When a congressional seat is on the line in an upcoming election, it matters.
Bottom line, I surmise from what I do know, that Boehner needs votes from both parties in order to pass certain legislation in the House.
If he knows he has those votes - and that’s the WHIP’s job to count them - then he can represent that in the negotiations, regardless of where those votes come from.
Boehner would not be advocating the dollar-for-dollar approach for months by ANY reliance on a single Democratic vote.
The most conservative members of the GOP caucus can be whipped into a yes vote, if necessary. They have about 28 votes to spare.
There is no way the Speaker would be out on a limb if he didn’t have the assurance of his own caucus. Otherwise, the GOP should just fold the tent and give Obama his clean debt increase and let him own it.