Two tweets, which seem to me worth their own diary:
Chuck Todd @chucktodd
Will this cause GOPers to balk? @mmurraypolitics: Pelosi tells @mitchellreports she could support the latest Obama WH fiscal-cliff proposal
And another:
Mark Murray @mmurraypolitics
Pelosi says her red line in the negotiations is raising Medicare's eligibility age -- not chained CPI
I would find it surprising in light of these statements if Boehner and Obama were not very close to a deal.
And if I were a Democrat in the House, I would think VERY VERY hard about giving GOP Congressman cover on tax increases for the rich while going on record cutting social security. In fact, a Democrat in a marginal district would be crazy to vote for it.
In general the whole thing makes me want to vomit.
The New York Times reports Boehner is moving forward with Plan B and that he has rejected the deal that included the SS cuts. But there is this, and I think this is why a deal is nearly done:
The speaker made it clear he would continue negotiating with the president, and some House Republicans emerged from a closed-door meeting with Mr. Boehner confident that a deal was now in reach.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
From the comments:
Pelosi pushed back on progressive opponents of one compromise measure that would modify the way cost-of-living increases are calculated to determine Society Security payments. While some in the Democratic Party say that the change -- called "chained CPI" -- would effectively cut Social Security payments, the minority leader said Tuesday that the effects on poor recipients would be minimal once all of the specifics of the deal are worked out.
"The details of this are not all ironed out, but they all mitigate for helping the poorest and neediest in our society, whether they are [Supplemental Security Income] recipients, whether they're 80 and older, or whether they're truly needy," she said.
This is a done deal. My guess is this evolves to something like what was proposed in Simpson Bowles. Simpson Bowles limited COLA's, but only to those in the top 50% or recipients. Below that amount the benefits were not as effected.
Simpson Bowles also had a minimum Social Security benefit - which I doubt we will see.