Just hours before he announced the breakthrough, Boehner had made the case for a year-long extension.
But the top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, instead urged the House to accept the outlines of the Senate legislation. Resolve was crumbling among tea party-backed Republicans, too.
"I don't think that my constituents should have a tax increase because of Washington's dysfunction," said freshman Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis.
"An `all or nothing' attitude is not what my constituents need now," Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., wrote in a letter to Boehner. "We are now in a position...that requires Republicans to not only demand a willingness to compromise, but to offer it as well."