WASHINGTON – A go-it-alone House Republican plan to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling teetered on the edge of failure late Tuesday as leaders struggled to rally support from reluctant members.

Leaders postponed a vote in the House planned for today in an indication of the problems regarding the effort. The House plan would face an uncertain fate in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and White House officials said they would recommend that President Barack Obama veto it.

The uphill task, led by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, grew more difficult when an independent analysis posed a challenge to figures used by the leadership, saying the plan’s initial $1.2 trillion in savings would be less than initially estimated.

Boehner’s challenge arrived at a pivotal moment for the Republican Party and the country, after months of political deadlock and days before the federal government hits the limit on how much it can borrow. Officials have said that if the debt ceiling is not raised by Aug. 2, the government would be unable to pay all its bills and obligations.

The effort at a House-led resolution encountered a series of obstacles. In their effort to rescue the plan, GOP leaders pushed into overdrive, using arguments, empathy, sweeteners and even a tough-guy movie clip.

To push a House-led plan, Boehner must amass 217 votes. There are 240 Republicans in the House, so he can afford to lose no more than 23 – a questionable prospect given the opposition of many conservatives to any increase in the nation’s debt limit.

Few if any Democrats are expected to support the plan, which would require the president to go to Congress twice during the next year for authority to raise the nation’s debt limit, which Obama opposes.

A competing plan, pushed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would provide for a debt ceiling increase to last through 2012.

One by one Tuesday, reluctant rank-and-file House Republicans wrestled with their decisions.

The discussions reflected divisions with the Republican Party at large. Influential business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urged lawmakers to vote for the House plan, which would cut about $3 trillion over a decade, while pivotal conservative groups warned against it.

“When there is this type of pressure, I do what I was taught to do: I get on my knees and I ask for some understanding and some leadership,” said Rep. Jeff Landry, a freshman Republican from Louisiana, who came to Washington without any experience in elected office. He said he was undecided, but very skeptical.

Boehner and his leadership team relied on good-cop, bad-cop approaches to push and pull lawmakers into line in a tense environment one GOP senator said was “changing every hour.”

In many ways, this was a moment for the history books: the machinery of Washington at work in a classic showcase of the congressional process. At a closed-door meeting of Republicans, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the majority leader, said it was time to “quit whining” and vote.

Seeking to inspire members, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the House whip responsible for aligning members, turned to Hollywood. He showed lawmakers a clip from the heist movie drama “The Town,” as Ben Affleck’s character tells his accomplice he needs his help and needs it now – no questions asked.

The loyal buddy seizes the moment by simply responding: “Whose car we gonna take?”

Rep. Allen West, a tea party-aligned freshman from Florida who has been known to buck leadership, gave an impassioned speech backing the plan.

West concluded by saying: “I will drive the car.”

But others were turned off by the hard sell from the leadership – and the White House. In a speech Monday night, Obama took to task House Republicans, particularly the sizable freshmen class that has been most resistant to raising the debt ceiling.

Freshman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a former prosecutor, said he and his peers are not the caricature Obama makes them out to be, but fiscal hawks who want to make a “trans-generational” impact on debts and deficits.

“We’re not a bunch of knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing Neanderthals,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, a Democratic measure that would allow the debt ceiling to be raised with $2.7 trillion in deficit reduction was put on hold pending the House outcome. Seven Republican senators would be needed to join with the Democratic majority to clear Reid’s plan.