As President Obama and House SpeakerJohn A. Boehner took turns blaming each other for the sudden lull in the budget talks, the action continued off-camera Wednesday as the Ohio Republican focused on building support from his conservative majority to increase tax rates on the wealthy.

Boehner faces a potentially insurmountable challenge: Even though Republican leaders are all but resigned that the top tax rates will have to rise in the new year, the party's rank-and-file House members are not.