Why can't the Senate move on their bill?

Why is Reid waiting for the House to vote on the Boehner plan? Why won't he just bring his plan before the Senate, pass it, and send it to the House?

Does the House bill have to come first?

"All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills."

Whether we see any revenues doesn't look promising though. :(

come Monday evening. IMO he'll wait until then for the Boehner bill to pass the House. Immediately, Reid will call a vote on a motion to "table" the House bill, without debate. Only then will he bring up the Senate bill.

If he jumps the gun, Republican Senators likely would filibuster the Reid bill. But they would not dare filibuster the last bill that has a chance to avoid default. Such a filibuster would be seen as a positive Senate vote for default, and give Democrats a much better chance of unseating Republican Senators up for re-election in 2012.

Should the Boehner bill not pass the House by late Monday evening, IMO Reid then might bring up his bill, but only if he thought there was no chance the Boehner bill could get 216 Republican votes within 24 hours or so.

Is that right?

hear anything about getting the Senate to move first.

I read McConnell's statement this morning as signaling he would not filibuster the Reid bill. That removes the biggest reason for Reid's holding back on introducing his Senate bill.

IMO the Senate now should act if it believes it can get 21 Republican House votes for Reid's bill. There are 195 House Democrats who under Pelosi's leadership unanimously would support the Senate bill. All they'd need would be 21 House Repulblican votes to get to 216.

On the other hand, if each bill passes only one house of Congress, everything hinges upon how a House-Senate conference this weekend merges the two bills into one. A House bill more extreme today or tomorrow than it was yesterday could provide more leverage to Republicans in conference.

There is strategic value in waiting until the Boehner bill is dead until introducing the last possible bill to save the US economy.

You certainly don't want Boehner's bill to be the last one standing.