Late Saturday night (early Sunday morning for you East Coasters), ABC News reported a tentative debt-ceiling deal had been reached:
Democratic and Republican Congressional sources involved in the negotiations tell ABC News that a tentative agreement has been reached on the framework of a deal that would give the President a debt ceiling increase of up to $2.4 trillion and guarantee an equal amount of deficit reduction over the next 10 years.
A word of caution though:
The details are still being worked out, and a senior White House aide tells ABC News, "talks continue but there is no deal to report."
The details:
- A debt ceiling increase of up to $2.1 to $2.4 trillion (depending on the size of the spending cuts agreed to in the final deal).
- They have now agreed to spending cuts of roughly $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
- The formation of a special Congressional committee to recommend further deficit reduction of up to $1.6 trillion (whatever it takes to add up to the total of the debt ceiling increase). This deficit reduction could take the form of spending cuts, tax increases or both.
- The special committee must make recommendations by late November (before Congress' Thanksgiving recess).
- If Congress does not approve those cuts by December 23, automatic across-the-board cuts go into effect, including cuts to Defense and Medicare. This "trigger" is designed to force action on the deficit reduction committee's recommendations by making the alternative painful to both Democrats and Republicans.
- A vote, in both the House and Senate, on a balanced budget amendment.
Major Garrett at National Journal adds this:
No net new tax revenue would be part of the special committee's deliberations.
So that's $1.2 trillion in cuts. Then a super special committee recommends more cuts in time for turkey. Then Congress must approve those cuts in time for Christmas, and if doesn't, guess what? We get cuts anyway. Merry Christmas! Gonna be a heck of a holiday season. And they're not allowed to even consider raising taxes. Not on the table.
And, of course, Republicans get their vanity vote on a Constitutional amendment. Because the Constitution is sacrosanct—until they want to amend it.
