Here’s the analysis by James Pethokoukoukis (via @irishspy):
Now is not time to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Neither the Reid budget plan nor the Boehner budget plan packs the fiscal wallop of Cut, Cap and Balance. But significant progress on cutting debt can still be made before the Aug. 2 (or is it Aug. 8 or 10 or …) debt ceiling deadline. And by that measure, the Boehner plan is not only far better than the Reid plan, it is a pretty darn good plan in and of itself. While both plans would cut some $1.2 trillion in discretionary spending over a decade, Reid would then close up shop until 2013. The only other major cuts would be to future defense spending that no one really expects to happen….
Boehner, on the other hand, would keep the debt cutting process going and more likely result in substantive spending cuts of $3 trillion, nearly three times the Reid plan. (And if you tack on the Reid defense cuts, you suddenly have a $4 trillion plan, including interest savings. The raters would like that.) I don’t think spending hawks should fear the Boehner debt commission if it has real teeth and doesn’t create a trigger for higher taxes.
What thinks you?
I think there is upside in keeping the issue alive for the next year, in the framework where the only thing on the table is budget cuts. I’d call it a single or a double, but not a strike out, with another appearance at the plate in about six months.
Update: Via The Hill:
In the closed-door meeting Tuesday, Cantor praised Boehner’s leadership and acknowledged that “the debt limit vote sucks.” But he told lawmakers that they had only three choices: allow the country to default on Aug. 2, pass a Senate bill that Boehner has denounced as “full of gimmicks” and a “blank check” for President Obama or support the GOP leadership and “call the president’s bluff.”
Cantor “said to stop grumbling and whining and to come together as conservatives and rally behind the speaker and call the president’s bluff,” the Republican with knowledge of his remarks said.
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Comments
Just a reminder. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $3.82 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
The so called cuts amount to $120 billion annually and many of them are Easter Bunny cuts. You will see these cuts the same time as you see the Easter Bunny.
$3.82 billion a day X 365 days in a year = $1,394.30 billion we are currently borrowing each year. So after all the smoke and mirrors we will still, in the very best case, be borrowing $1,274.30 billion dollars a year.
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