Here's a quick chart I put together showing the similarities and differences between the Reid and Boehner debt limit plans:
As you can see, the big difference between the two plans is that Reid's plan would extend the debt ceiling by $2.7 trillion next month, taking us through 2013, while Boehner's bill would raise the debt limit by just $900 billion, lasting only until the end of the year.
They both set up deficit reduction committees, but while there's nothing to force the Reid committee to deliver a plan, the Boehner bill requires Congress to approve at least $1.6 trillion in spending cuts—which Boehner has vowed will come from entitlements.
If you believe that the deficit reduction committee established by Reid would end up doing the exact same thing as the one established by Boehner, then the net result of the two plans would be the same, but Boehner's plan gives the committee tons of leverage because if Congress doesn't approve its plan, we'd once again face the threat of default.
In my view, the bottom-line is that the Boehner bill would effectively force massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Reid's wouldn't.
Thu Jul 28, 2011 at 4:40 PM PT: Updated chart to fix two mistakes (original here). The two mistakes: Reid's plan does create a goal for the deficit reduction committee of 3% of GDP, although there are no penalties if the Congress fails to to act. Second, Boehner's legislation does not specifically require the cuts to be for entitlements. However, he has ruled out House passage of tax increases and given the discretionary spending cuts in the first phase of his legislation, entitlement spending is the where the cuts wold have to come.