Via Krugman, who calls the budget details "horrifying", the New Republic has the details of the budget talks:
Medicare: Raising the eligibility age, imposing higher premiums for upper income beneficiaries, changing the cost-sharing structure, and shifting Medigap insurance in ways that would likely reduce first-dollar coverage. This was to generate about $250 billion in ten-year savings. This was virtually identical to what Boehner offered.
Medicaid: Significant reductions in the federal contribution along with changes in taxes on providers, resulting in lower spending that would likely curb eligibility or benefits. This was to yield about $110 billion in savings. Boehner had sought more: About $140 billion. But that’s the kind of gap ongoing negotiation could close.
More:
Discretionary spending: A cut in discretionary spending equal to $1.2 trillion over ten years, some of them coming in fiscal year 2012. The remaining differences here, over the timing of such cuts, were tiny.
I have seen estimates that the cost of our troops in Iraq is about $1 Trillion over 10 years from the CBO - or about the same as the cuts that are in this bill. Of course if this includes real cuts in FY2012, it will mean lost jobs, which is is hardly good for Obama's re-election chances.
I will never undertand why the debt ceiling wasn't included as part of the tax deal.
The devil's in the details, but agreeing to raise the retirement age for Medicare is a betrayal of Democratic principles of the first order. There is simply no other way to put it