WASHINGTON (AP) — Six days away from a potentially calamitous government default, House Republicans appeared to be coalescing Wednesday around a work-in-progress plan by House Speaker John Boehner to increase the U.S. borrowing limit and chop $1 trillion in federal spending. But the measure got a thumbs-down from both Senate Democrats and tea party activists, a telling illustration of the perilous politics along the pathway to a deal.

Democrats and Republicans alike tried to claim the moral high ground in a standoff that has put financial markets on edge and left stocks falling.

Boehner, R-Ohio, set out to retool his plan after nonpartisan analysts in the Congressional Budget Office said it would cut spending less than expected — about $850 billion over 10 years rather than the $1.2 trillion initially promised. GOP leaders planned a House vote Thursday on the reworked plan.