My Dear Friends,
Here is the latest in Political Hollywood.
You can be sure there will be a deal to avoid default. You can be equally sure it will not cure the debt problem.
Regards,
Jim
Leaders Reach Deal to Raise Debt Ceiling
By CARL HULSE and JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: July 31, 2011
WASHINGTON – Congressional leaders of both parties and President Obama said they have agreed to a framework for a fiscal deal that they will present to their caucuses Monday morning, moving Congress closer to taking up a measure that could pass both the House and Senate with bipartisan support and be signed by President Obama, averting a fiscal calamity.
The two Senate leaders, Harry Reid of Nevada and Mitch McConnell on Kentucky, announced the agreement on the Senate floor and President Obama a few moments later. He indicated he would support it, although it was not his preferred approach.
“It will allow us to avoid default,” he said.
All afternoon, after Senate Republicans, as expected, blocked progress on a Democratic plan, Senate Democrats and House Republicans had worked feverishly with White House officials Sunday to iron out the final components of a deal to avoid imminent default, negotiating the design of a mechanism that, after an initial round of spending cuts and debt relief this year, would help force the hand of Congress when the time comes for a second round next year.
The agreement would raise the debt ceiling by $900 billion, enough to last into early next year, with spending cuts of $917 locked in for the first ten years, and an additional $1.5 trillion in cuts to be worked out on a bipartisan basis as the price for another increase in the debt ceiling next year.
