In April, the President made the following demands:
Fresh off last week's down-to-the-wire spending showdown, President Obama and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) are locking horns again on fiscal matters -- and this time the stakes for the U.S. economy are even more monumental.
The White House is demanding a "clean" bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling rather than using it to cut additional spending or for policy additions like last week's attempt to attach legislation defunding Planned Parenthood, but Boehner has already said that idea is dead on arrival. There's no way a debt-ceiling bill would pass the House (i.e. the muster of his unruly GOP conference) without some spending cuts for balance.
Unlike in the beginning of the battle over this year's spending plan, the rhetoric over the debt ceiling is already white hot. White House spokesman Jay Carney on Monday said the consequences of failing to raise the debt ceiling would be "Armageddon-like" for the country.
As usual, it was simply another check written that the White House could not cash.
Shortly after this "demand", the WH backed off, which is standard operating procedure at this point.
Softening the administration's earlier insistence that Congress raise the so-called debt ceiling without conditions, officials now say they won't rule out linking an increase of the borrowing cap with cuts aimed at reducing the deficit—even though they'd prefer to keep the issues separate.
This was followed by multiple diaries discussing who was right, why we shouldn't believe unsourced leaks, and why we should simply trust/distrust the Administration.
Well, in case you haven't noticed, the leakers floating the trial balloon were proven correct once again.
http://online.wsj.com/...
The shape of a final budget deal could depend on which side wins the public relations battle on taxes, and whether voters see any changes as fair or burdensome. Democrats plan to highlight tax breaks they believe help their case, beginning with the favorable treatment of private jets.
"Do we perpetuate a system that allows for subsidies in revenues for oil and gas, for example, or owners of corporate private jets, and then call for cuts in things like food safety or weather services?" Mr. Carney said.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Vice President Joseph Biden had agreed on cuts that total about $1 trillion over 10 years, participants say. They were shooting for about $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction, but when Democrats insisted about $400 billion in tax increases be considered, the Republicans walked out.
Yes, because taxing corporate jets is a fair deal for cutting social services, education and health services, and possibly beginning to cut entitlements. In the Obama WH, that is called "Our First Offer" in the caving process.
So what else is the WH "asking" Republicans to agree to?
White House spokesman Jay Carney provided the most specific list so far of the tax changes Democrats want. These include a repeal of oil and gas subsidies, an acceleration of the depreciation on private jets, a limit on deductions for the wealthy, and a change in how businesses value their inventory.
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Another Democratic proposal would limit the itemized deductions that wealthier Americans can claim on their tax returns to a certain percent of their income. Depending on how strict the limit is, that could generate $300 billion more revenue over 10 years.
So revenue increases, as proposed by the WH are 17% of the package. If I recall correctly, the horrible Simpson Bowles plan had 25% reveune target. In the midst of negotiations the WH has proposed a little more that half of what the deficit commission proposed in revenue increases AND has proposed a payroll tax CUT, that Republicans are acting like they don't want, doing their best brer rabbit imitation.
And this is during a negotiation about the debt ceiling!!! LMAO. Republicans must not believe how lucky they are to be sitting across the table from this negotiation team.
The only thing that resulted from progressives by "holding off on an assessment" and "waiting until you see the deal" was a loss of precious time to firm up and make the progressive position clear by drawing a line in the sand. In the interim, the WH has continued to build support for their deficit hawking from the likes of Sen. Coons and Rep. Blumenauer.
Anyone that believes the White House will stand up for any position at this point has to have their political acumen questioned. The real question is when will progressives learn to push back BEFORE it is too late instead of the kicking and screaming after the deal is done. From what I can tell, this round of austerity has been accepted by everyone in DC outside of Sen. Bernie Sanders. The only question is how hard will the middle class and poor be hit and how loudly the Republicans and their donors will be laughing on the way to the bank.