Ezra Klein
has the full details of what President Obama offered on the table for the $4 trillion "big deal," and was left stunned at how much President Obama had offered in concessions to the Republicans:
I knew the White House wanted a compromise on the debt ceiling. I just didn't expect them to do quite so much, well, compromising.
Here's what appears to have been in the $4 trillion deal they offered the Republicans: A two-year increase in the Medicare eligibility age. Chained-CPI, which amounts to a $200 billion cut to Social Security benefits. A tax-reform component that would raise $800 billion and preempt the expiration of the Bush tax cuts -- which would mean, for those following along at home, that the deal would only include half as much revenue as the fiscal commission recommended, and when you add the effect of making the Bush tax cuts a permanent part of the code, would net out to a tax cut of more than $3 trillion when compared to current law.
That last bit apparently killed the deal. But it was actually the biggest concession on the table.....The deal Obama offered Boehner would've traded away the option to force much more in revenues later in order to get slightly more in revenues now. And it would have thrown in a slew of entitlement cuts and spending cuts as a sweetener.
This was what President Obama brought to the table. And Digby adds in her piece here:
Ezra mentions in passing that the administration has no intention of letting all the Bush tax cuts expire, which seems to set off alarms. But I'm fairly sure he's talking about the middle class tax cuts. The problem in 2012, as it was last winter when they faced this last time, is that the cuts needed to be decoupled when the Democrats held congress and had some juice during the early days of the economic crisis. Had they been smart enough to permanently extend the middle class cuts at the time and leave only the tax cuts for the wealthy n a temporary basis, the Republicans would be in a much weaker position. As it is, they'll hold the middle class tax cuts hostage in the next lame duck just as they did before. I can see why the administration would have liked to get this one off the table. But why would the GOP have agreed when they have to give up nothing?
...
No, I think the Medicare and SS was as Ezra says -- to sweeten the pot to get the Republicans to agree to take the Bush tax cuts off the table right now. And they didn't see any need to give up one of their most potent weapons and agree to any tax hikes at all.
Imagine what would've happened if John Boehner had said yes to the President's "big deal." The President, a Democrat, offered to cut Social Security, Medicare, and extend most of the Bush tax cuts. If not for Eric Cantor's reticence on the revenue issue, it's highly likely that John Boehner would've said yes.
And thus the knife would have been inserted in the heart of the New Deal, and into the Democratic party platform, thus harming the chances of Democrats to take back Congress in 2012. Even with that said, the Republicans will still attack Democrats on this because the President put out the prospect of cutting SS, Medicare, and Medicaid on the table. Once it's out there, it's hard to take it back.
This isn't over yet. It's why we need to keep on taking action by contacting Congress, the White House, and the DNC.
Today's Action - Day 1
1) Contact the DNC (Democratic National Committee).
2) Contact your representatives and the White House (We will call for this every day).
Tell them not to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid in any way, shape or form. Contact information is below.
Contact information:
White House
White House Comments Line: 202-456-1111
White House Switchboard: 202-456-1414
White House FAX: 202-456-2461
White House Email Page: www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Congress
Capitol Switchboard: (202)224-3121
(Just ask for your Rep.'s or Senator's office).
Look up your Representative's / Senator's contact information:
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
Democratic National Committee (DNC)
DNC by email: www.democrats.org/page/s/contact
DNC by phone: (202) 863-8000
DNC by snail mail: 430 S. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC 20003