Republican hopes to vote on debt deal collapse

The Republican leader of the House of Representatives John Boehner has proved unable to secure the support of his own caucus to vote on a plan to raise the US debt ceiling.

President Obama will be facing calls this morning to take control of the negotiating process, having left the legislative branch to negotiate largely among themselves for several days. Over that period US stockmarkets have fallen sharply. Yesterday the Dow Jones clocked up its second day of significant losses, shedding 62 points to stand at 12,240. US government Treasuries also saw their CDS curve invert for the first time in history and the cost of lending to the US government over 10-years rise above the cost of lending to the UK. The market omens look poor with Treasuries and US equites now moving down in tandem and the dollar continuing to weaken.

Conservative lawmakers, who are still pushing for a balanced budget in the deal, have prevented Boehner's modest plan. However, even had it reached a vote it faced being voted down in the democratic senate and a presidential veto even if it overcome that apparently unassailable hurdle.

The US government will run out of money to pay its bills on 2 August unless its borrowing limit is increased by $14.3 trillion (£8.7 trillion).

Republicans hold 240 of the 433 votes in the House and need 216 to pass the bill.

A spokesman for Boehner said: ‘When we took the majority [in the House] we promised to end the practice of forcing substantial bills through the House in the dark of night, and we take that pledge seriously.’