Here's James Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House, earlier today on MSNBC, making the case that the biggest obstacle to getting a debt deal done is the Republican refusal to budge from their Grover Norquist-approved tax pledge:
Clyburn said he was hopeful a deal could still get done, but said Republicans would need to abandon the their anti-tax pledge to Grover Norquist for that to happen. Clyburn didn't argue for raising tax rates themselves. Instead, he argued for closing tax loopholes, which he said could raise $400 billion in revenue. If Republicans insist on saying that closing loopholes is the same thing as raising taxes, Clyburn said it wouldn't be possible to have an effective negotiation:
If you consider closing loopholes raising taxes, that keeps us from having a good conversation about where to go from here. And that's the problem.
Clyburn said that if Republicans rule out revenue, the only way to prevent a default would be to pass a short-term debt limit extension.
Clyburn also pointed out that in any scenario, John Boehner won't be able to deliver enough Republican votes to pass a debt limit increase, meaning that Boehner will need about one hundred Democratic votes to get a debt limit increase through the House.