Republicans search for votes with Boehner plan in jeopardy

House leaders worked late into the night Thursday to convince the final few wavering Republicans to back a debt ceiling plan from House Speaker John A. Boehner, even as the Senate stood by ready to immediately kill the plan.

A vote that had been scheduled for the early evening was postponed just moments before it was to be called, when the GOP leadership recognized it was shy of the 216 members needed to advance the measure.

In an effort to win over some of the conference’s more conservative members, Boehner was prepared strike $17 billion in supplemental funds for Pell Grants, which would add to the plan’s $915 billion in deficit savings.

Republicans were eight votes short, but dropped down to two after hours of negotiations, aides said.

One by one, lawmakers were seen coming and going from the Capitol offices of Boehner and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the majority leader.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, a conservative Republican from Texas, emerged a “bloodied, beaten down no.”

“I’m going in to pray about this in the chapel,” said freshman Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), another no vote. “I’m going to pray for our leaders. They need it.”

The vote was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. Eastern. The Pell Grant provision could be amended or removed if leaders convene a late-night meeting of the Rules Committee.

Should the plan pass the House, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) promised to immediately defeat it in that chamber.

Congressional leaders would then need to quickly agree on a new consensus plan that could clear both chambers in time to forestall a potential default next week.

The White House questioned Boehner’s insistence on pressing forward with what it considered a time-wasting enterprise.

“Someone remind me why @speakerboehner is dead set on doing this again in December?” White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer asked on Twitter, referring to a provision in the Ohio Republican’s plan that would require another debt ceiling vote this winter.