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Shutdown Is John Boehner’s Cross to Bear

As Senate leaders race to hammer out a last-minute game plan on the budget ahead of Thursday’s debt limit deadline, all eyes are turning back to Speaker John A. Boehner.

And two weeks of trial and error have left CNN anchor Chris Cuomo wondering whether the Ohio Republican will be able to handle the legislative Hail Mary.

“Hopefully, you can get the work done, because as we know, it all comes down to WWBD. What will Boehner do when he gets this deal?” Cuomo warned gang of 12 members Sens. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., on Tuesday during a discussion of the tenuous Senate deal. “If he can’t sell it to his caucus, it’s not going anywhere.”

The bipartisan duo expressed optimism that the developing package, which would theoretically reopen the government and the extend government borrowing authority ASAP while kicking the broader spending fight down the road a few months, is on the right track. But neither seemed pleased about all the roadblocks lawmakers have had to try to overcome every step of the way.

“It’s an embarrassment to me that we have spent all this time on a rabbit trail, leading us to where we are,” Corker said of the perilous journey. And it’s far from over. “There’s a lot of work that’s going to be done over the next two or three days. I don’t think it’s time to spike the football in the end zone yet,” he warned.

According to Heitkamp, the most important thing is that cooler heads have seemingly prevailed.

“Not to criticize anyone, but the adults have taken over,” she asserted.

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