Scheduling

The House recessed at 6:50 p.m., subject to the call of the Speaker. Before breaking, members debated eight suspension bills that name post offices around the country, and voted on a few.

The House recessed without any announcement on when members might gather back to vote on the House GOP Budget Control Act. Republicans postponed a planned 6 p.m. vote in an effort to gather the votes needed to pass the bill.

House Republicans at about 5:40 p.m. announced that further consideration of the Budget Control Act would be postponed.

Presiding officer Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) made the announcement, but did not say how long it would be postponed.

Just minutes earlier, House Democrats said they were advised that the vote would be postponed, and speculated that Republicans do not yet have the votes for passage.

The House moved to take up several non-controversial bills to name post offices at about 5:45 p.m.

House leaders announced late Thursday that the House will be in session this Saturday and Sunday.

According to a statement from Laena Fallon, press secretary for Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the weekend will include further work on the 2012 Interior Department appropriations bill. The House will also be waiting for the Senate to hold a vote on a budget plan.

Fallon said no other work on the debt limit is expected, other than consideration of a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.

Any votes taken would be held after 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.

The House holds a critical vote on the Republican Budget Control Act, and the Senate watches for the result.

Members meet at noon for legislative work, and are expected to start with the rule for the budget bill, S. 627. After an hour of debate on the rule, two hours of debate start on the bill itself, controlled by the Rules, Ways and Means and Budget committees.

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday evening approved debate rules for the House Republicans' revised Budget Control Act, setting the stage for debate and vote on both the rule and the bill on Thursday.

The rule prohibits all amendments to the bill, S. 627. After an hour of debate and vote on the rule Thursday, the House will hold two hours of debate on the bill itself, and then vote.

Congress now has just a week left to find a way around the debt-ceiling crisis or face default, but there are still no signs of a compromise between the main negotiators, the House GOP and the Senate Democrats.

The House is still reworking its Budget Control Act after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said it only cuts $850 billion, not $1.2 trillion. A House vote is planned for Thursday, but with no sign of the reworked language as of Wednesday morning, that vote has the potential to be pushed to Friday.

The Senate is similarly poised to take up its own Budget Control Act, which would cut $2.7 trillion over 10 years, although Republicans say the real cuts would be far lower. The Senate has yet to file cloture on that bill.

Another possible hurdle to the Senate bill emerged Wednesday morning: The CBO said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) bill would actually cut only $2.2 trillion over 10 years, not $2.7 trillion.

House Republicans now plan a Thursday vote on their Budget Control Act, after the Congressional Budget Office said it would not save $1.2 trillion over 10 years, but only $850 billion.

That announcement prompted House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to rework his bill to make sure it meets the $1.2 trillion in cuts, which means the bill will not be ready for a planned Wednesday vote.

"As we speak, Congressional staff are looking at options to adjust the legislation to meet our pledge," Boehner Spokesman Michael Steel said earlier Tuesday.

Plans to hold the vote Thursday implies that House Republicans will put out a revised bill late Tuesday night, to meet their three-calendar day pledge. Under that pledge, a bill introduced anytime Tuesday can be considered on Thursday.

With just eight days remaining before the Treasury's Aug. 2 deadline, the House and Senate are moving on separate tracks for solving the debt-ceiling crisis, and as of this morning there were no signs they would work together on a joint proposal.

It might take House and Senate passage of the separate plans to prompt a compromise, and today, both bodies seemed to be moving in that direction.

House Republicans and Senate Democrats are working furiously early this week to come up with their own debt-ceiling proposals, with less than a week before the Aug. 2 deadline.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is expected to propose his own plan today, after his talks with the White House broke down on Friday. The GOP plan was expected to be made available today so the House could begin considering it by Wednesday.

All we know is, the deal will somehow involve House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). If there is a deal.

Earlier Friday, it appeared that Boehner and President Obama would work out a debt ceiling agreement. The inability of the Senate to pass any legislation seemed to make this a natural fit.