Biden after the first round of debt
talks
last month (Jason Reed/Reuters)
Los Angeles Times:
Deficit-reduction negotiations will continue essentially around the clock next week as Vice President Joe Biden and congressional leaders seek to resolve the stand-off over raising the nation’s $14.3-trillion debt limit and send jittery financial markets a message that Washington can tackle its fiscal problems.
Biden said that negotiators are aiming for $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade even as the differences remain on the core issues of taxes and Medicare health spending.
"Now we're getting down to the real hard stuff: I’ll trade you my bicycle for your golf clubs," Biden said. "The really tough stuff that is left are the big ticket items – and philosophically big ticket items."
According to the report, Biden has set a goal of early July for a final deal, an objective that may be within reach based on these comments by Eric Cantor:
Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the majority leader who is representing House Republicans, said the evening discussion was "very good."
"The president and the vice president’s interested, as well, in trillions of dollars of savings," Cantor said. "We're trying to get there."
Of course the question isn't just if they get there, it's how they get there, and it's impossible to imagine any sort of reasonable deal that doesn't involve raising revenues, something that Republicans have thus far refused to consider. And the challenge is even steeper now that the White House is pushing for new stimulus measures such as a new and/or extended payroll tax holiday.
Hopefully, next week we'll get more insight into what is going on behind closed doors, and if they believe a deal will be possible next week, what that deal will look like.