In many respects, the deal will, if approved by all parties, resemble the contours of a short-lived pact negotiated last weekend by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Obama rejected that deal, forcing Congress to wrestle with other inferior legislative options throughout the week.
Among the newest wrinkles, according to informed sources, is an agreement to extend the current $14.3 trillion debt ceiling very briefly to give the legislative process time to work without resorting to emergency, hurry-up measures.
President Obama has said he would only sign a short-term extension (days, not weeks) if it were linked to an extension of borrowing authority that lasts beyond the 2012 election.
Seems to be a variation on the same old thing:
Reductions in the rate of spending increase over a 10 year period.
A committee to propose the reductions (which will never happen)
A increase in borrowing which will add more debt immediately which (most likely) will negate the reduction in the rate of spending increases (if they ever happened, but they won’t)
There, I feel all better. Don’t you?