Greg Sargent, who has consistently shown he has well-placed sources on the Democratic side of the aisle, sketches out Harry Reid’s strategy for navigating the week. The short version is, he won’t act first (what else is new?). Rather, he’ll let the House vote on the Boehner plan. If it fails, his thinking is it will cripple Boehner’s leadership and hurt his bargaining position, and perhaps make it possible to flip some Senate Republicans for the Reid plan. If Boehner passes the House, Reid will, for procedural convenience, hollow it out and stuff his plan into the Boehner “shell,” then try to pass it and send it back to the House.
In other words, Reid’s plan is to be the last plan standing before August 2.
The longer version is here.