Congress reached a deal Sunday night to avert a national default.
According to the Huffington Post, the proposal calls for a first round of cuts totaling $917 billion over the next 10 years and would allow President Barack Obama to raise the debt ceiling by $900 billion that would carry the government through the end of the year.
A new joint congressional committee would be charged with coming up with $1.5 trillion in additional cuts and present its plan to Congress by Thanksgiving. If the committee fails to enact savings, the measure requires $1.2 trillion of automatic cuts, split equally between military and domestic programs.
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Obama agenda: A silver lining?
"Liberals were furious as the terms of the agreement came into focus Sunday, and yet another capitulation by Obama on economic policy threatened to further dampen enthusiasm among the core Democratic voters he will need to win reelection next year," the Washington Post writes. "But for a White House eager to improve its standing with centrist independents who have been fleeing Obama, even a losing deal can be a winning strategy."
More: "Most important for the president, the agreement struck Sunday averted a government default — an outcome that probably would have hurt the U.S. economy and added to voters' frustrations with Obama's leadership."
The New York Times' Zeleny makes this point: "The outcome, perhaps, was better for Mr. Obama as a presidential candidate than as a president. His ability to face down House Republicans over the next 18 months is in question, but when he faces voters next year, his advisers believe that the debt ceiling fight will have created a clear contrast between his priorities and that of a Republican Party that he and his allies will no doubt portray as extreme."
USA Today says everyone looks bad. "In the debate over raising the government's debt ceiling, President Obama has seen his approval rating fall to a new low, his political adeptness questioned and his liberal base enraged over compromises he made on line-in-the-sand issues such as protecting Medicare from cuts. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has been weakened, too. He not only was forced to retreat from a legacy-making grand bargain, but he also had to pull his own plan from the House floor for revisions demanded by conservative Tea Party members. Washington itself has looked to many American voters and international investors like a bickering, dysfunctional family, unable to address the nation's considerable and looming problems in a timely way.
"Responding to criticism from liberal Democrats, White House officials said Sunday night that the deal President Obama helped broker provides a path to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy while protecting domestic programs," The Hill writes.
A round up of today's front pages:
The New York Times (with a sullen-looking photo of Obama): "Leaders agree on outlines of deal to end debt crisis."
The Washington Post (with a smiling Minority Leader Mitch McConnell): "Leaders strike debt deal."
The Wall Street Journal (with shots of Boehner, Reid and McConnell): "Leaders agree on debt deal."
The Philadelphia Inquirer (also with the McConnell photo): "Accord is reached on federal budget."
The Boston Globe: "Leaders reach 11th-hour debt deal; passage in Congress still uncertain."
The New York Post: "House call: Deal at last – now up to reps."
The New York Daily News: "Done deal: Obama reaches accord with Congress bigs on debt ceiling."
The Cleveland Plain Dealer: "Obama, McConnell, Reid OK debt deal's framework."
The Orlando Sun-Sentinel: "Congress, Obama reach debt deal."
The Miami Herald: "And it's a deal."
The Denver Post: "Hard-fought deal emerges."
The Charlotte Observer (with a smiling Mitch McConnell on the cover): "A debt deal at last, but Congress must approve."
US debt crisis blows over
Washington: Republicans and Democrats in Congress reached agreement with President Barack Obama to raise the limit on US borrowing and forestall an unprecedented American default, marking the start in the final chapter of one of the nastiest and divisive episodes in recent American political history.
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Shortly after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his Republican counterpart, minority leader Mitchell McConnell, endorsed the plan on the Senate floor, Obama went to the White House press room to add his support for the deal. It meets one of his key demands, raising borrowing power sufficiently to keep the partisan poison pill from returning to the national agenda until after the 2012 election. It does not include any tax increases that Obama had pressed hard for to include.
House Speaker John Boehner, in a conference call with Republican members of the lower chamber, said the deal was a good one that met the demands of all Republicans.
Bowing to the still unknown outcome of congressional action, Obama said important votes remained to be taken but that leaders of both parties in both houses of Congress agreed to a plan that would initially cut about $1 trillion from US spending, "the lowest level of domestic spending since Dwight Eisenhower was president" in the 1950s.
"Is this the deal I would have preferred," Obama asked, answering his own question with one word. "No."
But he said: "Most importantly it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America. And it will allow us to lift the cloud of doubt and uncertainty" that has hung above the United States for weeks.
And not just America: World markets showed their relief immediately. Japan's benchmark Nikkei index, opening Monday morning -- at 8 p.m. Sunday on America's East Coast -- was up 1.7 percent in early trading. On Wall Street, US stock futures surged.
No votes were expected in either house of Congress until Monday at the earliest, to give rank and file lawmakers to review the package. Tuesday is the deadline to avoid a US default on payments to investors in Treasury bonds, recipients of Social Security pension checks, those relying on military veterans benefits and businesses that do work for the government.
Obama and many economists and financial experts predicted global chaos and plunging stock markets had no deal been reached by midnight Tuesday.
If approved in Monday votes, the compromise would presumably preserve America's sterling credit rating, reassure investors in financial markets across the globe and possibly reverse the losses that spread across Wall Street in recent days as the threat of a default grew.
The broadest outlines of the emerging plan, a deal that involved deep negotiations between McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden, would raise the federal debt limit in two stages by at least $2.2 trillion, enough to tide the Treasury over until after the 2012 elections.
Big cuts in government spending would be phased in over a decade. Thousands of programs -- the Park Service, Internal Revenue Service and Labor Department accounts among them -- could be trimmed to levels last seen years ago.
No benefit cuts were envisioned for the Social Security pension system or Medicare, the federal program that provides health care payments to the elderly. But other programs would be scoured for savings. Taxes would be unlikely to rise.
The first step would take place immediately, raising the debt limit by nearly $1 trillion and cutting spending by a slightly larger amount over a decade.
That would be followed by creation of a new congressional committee that would have until the end of November to recommend $1.8 trillion or more in deficit cuts, targeting benefit programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, or overhauling the tax code. Those deficit cuts would allow a second increase in the debt limit, which would be needed by early next year.
If the committee failed to reach its $1.8 trillion target, or Congress failed to approve its recommendations by the end of 2011, lawmakers would then have to vote on a proposed constitutional balanced-budget amendment.
If that failed to pass, automatic spending cuts totaling $1.2 trillion would automatically take effect, and the debt limit would rise by an identical amount.
Social Security, Medicaid and food stamps would be exempt from the automatic cuts, but payments to doctors, nursing homes and other Medicare providers could be trimmed, as could subsidies to insurance companies that offer an alternative to government-run Medicare.
Any agreement will have to be passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, which was seen as assured, and Republican-controlled House, which still could face a major tussle, before going to the White House for Obama's signature. With precious little time remaining, both chambers had been on standby throughout the day Sunday.
Some Republicans were said to still be balking over proposed cuts in defense spending. It also was unclear how the 87 new House members, voted in with support from the low-tax, small-government tea party wing of the Republican Party, would vote. But it was believed that both Boehner, the Republican House speaker, and Reid, leader of majority Democrats in the Senate, felt certain they could garner sufficient votes.
The coming days will be clogged with statements from both Republicans, especially the tea party caucus, and Democrats as they try to convince their constituencies that they held firm and won the day in the bitter divide over how the government operates and what it owes to its citizens.
Source: AP
BARACK Obama has proved yet again that he is a political high-wire artist who can pull off a deal at the last minute when his presidency is on the line.
The Democrat President gambled on pushing his health policy through congress last year, but the stakes do not get any bigger than risking everything on the debt level of the biggest economy in the world.
The White House and US congress leaders yesterday reached a last-minute deal to avert a catastrophic default on $US14.3 trillion ($12.9 trillion) in government debt after agreeing to a framework for raising the authorised borrowing limit and imposing long-term budget cuts. If no deal had been reached before tomorrow's deadline, the US President could have forgotten about his re-election prospects in November next year.
Worse still for the US economy and the world, a government default on debt - if Republicans and Democrats in congress had not been forced into a compromise on raising the debt level - would have triggered what has been described as "economic Armageddon": a downgrade in Washington's AAA credit rating followed by international interest rate hikes, market turmoil and most likely another global recession.
It was all so unnecessary when the good health of the US economy - despite its sluggish recovery from the 2008 recession - was not in doubt.
But the Democrat President was dealing with restive Republican Party opponents in congress willing to use a normally routine increase in the government debt level to exact huge long-term cuts to entitlement programs for the sake of lowering budget deficits in the long-term.
Mr Obama responded by playing a political game of chicken: he wagered, correctly, that congress leaders would back away from allowing a default when they stood at the precipice.
But he gambled further: if Republicans demanded budget cuts in return for increasing debt, he was determined not to accede to their push for a short-term fix of a small debt increase that would bring a repeat crisis in a matter of months - during next year's presidential election campaign. He played and won agreement for a long-term increase that would maintain the temperature until early in his second term - if he is re-elected.
Weeks of acrimonious debate came to a head just 24 hours before a debt level deadline tomorrow that would have left Washington unable to pay its bills. The White House and congress leaders on both sides agreed to authorise Mr Obama to increase the debt level by a further $US2.1 trillion.
The agreed sum will extend the government borrowing authority until 2013 and most likely appease ratings agencies and markets about the ability of Washington to maintain its good credit.
The deal, made after failed attempts by both parties to ram conflicting debt plans through congress, was made on condition that a bipartisan committee would agree to $US2.5 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade.
But there was still some anxiety among party leaders last night as they scrambled to guarantee party caucuses on both sides would accept the agreement in a morning congress vote.
Republican John Boehner, the House of Representatives Speaker, needed to persuade rebellious conservatives, who wanted deeper spending cuts and a guarantee of balanced budgets each year, that a compromise for the sake of maintaining the US government's credit was necessary.
Meanwhile, Democrat Senate majority leader Harry Reid tried to contain disenchantment on his side among left-leaning congress members who resent that budget cuts will slash into government entitlement programs on health and social security to achieve government savings, after Republicans tied their support for any borrowing limit increase to containing long-term debt.
President Obama said both sides had reached an agreement that would avoid a default with "a devastating effect on our economy".
He said the deal was not one he would have preferred because of tough choices that were made on entitlement cuts and tax reform.
He insisted, however, that an increase in the debt level with a two-step reduction in long-term budget deficits over a decade - $US1 trillion immediately and a further $US1.5 trillion to be negotiated by a bipartisan committee before the end of the year - provided a strong incentive for a balanced plan.
If the committee cannot reach an agreement, an automatic second round of budget cuts that overrules the committee's deliberations will be imposed.
"It will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America," he said. "It ensures also that we will not face this same kind of crisis in six months, or eight months, or 12 months, and it will begin to lift the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over our economy."
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's had warned that even a late deal on averting a debt default might not be enough to prevent a lowering of the government credit rating that would push up interest rates, but the White House and congress leaders hope their commitment to reducing long-term debt will be sufficient to maintain the status quo. The agreement was negotiated in Washington after conflicting plans suggested by both major parties failed to win majorities.
With all leaders spent and accepting that a default must not be permitted to occur, the looming deadline of tomorrow - according to Treasury estimates - concentrated their minds on a formula that could satisfy competing demands.
The US government has never defaulted on debt and debt has been increased dozens of times in recent decades without incident, including 18 times during the Reagan administration and seven times during the Bush administration.
However, buoyed by mid-term election wins last November and the cause of new Tea Party supporters favouring small government, Republicans used this year's expiry of the deadline as an ultimatum to press their case for tackling budget reduction.
Some Republicans loyal to the ultra-conservative Tea Party had even appeared willing to allow a default on principle to force savage curtailment of government programs.
US debt limit: Congress to vote on last-minute deal
Washington awoke on Monday to headlines about a deal instead of fear of a default and economic meltdownThe US Congress is preparing to vote on a deal struck between the White House and party leaders that would end weeks of uncertainty and avoid a default.
Sunday's deal would raise the debt ceiling by up to $2.4tn from the current $14.3tn and would cut the US budget deficit by a similar amount.
A bipartisan commission will also be set up to seek further reforms.
The deal needs to pass both houses of Congress to become law, but elements of both parties are expected to oppose it.
Republican and Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives and the Senate are to spend Monday meeting their own party members and attempting to convince them of the merits of the bipartisan deal.
The markets responded to the breakthrough with relief. The Dow Jones index in New York gained nearly 1% soon after opening, following gains in Tokyo and London.
However, the BBC's Jane O'Brien says the package is still likely to be a tough sell, with some Republicans and Democrats in the House remaining opposed to different aspects.
Newly elected Republicans have consistently refused to compromise in the debate over the debt ceiling, with many insisting on deep and immediate spending cuts and a constitutional amendment to force the US to balance its budget.
Many Democrats, meanwhile, strongly oppose the prospect of cuts to social programmes, benefits and health care for the elderly or lower-paid.
'We've changed the debate'The most intense debate on the deal is likely to come in the House of Representatives, where the divisions are most pronounced.
In the Senate, where a vote is expected around 14:00 local time (18:00 GMT), analysts say there is more of consensus.
Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell were two of those pushing the plan and they are thought likely to be able to corral their troops to approve the deal.
In the House, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is expected to ensure enough Democrats vote for the bill to help smooth its passage, analysts say.
Announcing the deal on Sunday night, President Obama himself conceded that the deal was not the one he would have preferred, but noted that the compromise plan would make a "serious downpayment" on the US deficit.
"I want to announce that the leaders of both parties in both chambers have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default, a default that would have had a devastating effect on our economy," Mr Obama said.
Republican House leader John Boehner - who had negotiated at length with Mr Obama in an eventually fruitless effort to seal a comprehensive deficit-reduction deal - hailed the deal despite its imperfections.
"This isn't the greatest deal in the world. But it shows how much we've changed the terms of the debate in this town," he said.
The proposed deal calls for:
• At least $2.4tn deficit reduction over 10 years
• New bipartisan congressional committee to recommend a deficit-reduction proposal by November
• A two-stage increase in the debt ceiling.
The recommendations of the new, bipartisan committee tasked with identifying further savings would also be put to a vote in Congress, Mr Obama said.
According to Mr Boehner, those savings would amount to at least $1.5tn, bringing the total spending cuts under the plan to about $2.4tn.
In recent days Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, and Democrats, who control the Senate, have rejected plans drawn up by the rival party in a mounting political battle.
Shares upThe US faces a Tuesday deadline to raise its $14.3tn (£8.7tn) debt limit or risk the first full-scale default in its history, a possibility that has spread mounting unease through international markets.
Democrats and Republicans in Washington have been deadlocked over finding a way to cut spending and raise the debt limit as the Tuesday deadline approached.
The US limits by law the total amount of debt its government can issue, and the Obama administration has been under mounting pressure over how it would continue to pay bills and costs like salaries if the limit was reached.
News of the proposed deal was welcomed by financial markets around the world.
"We welcome the US debt deal and hopefully this will stabilise markets," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.
First Thoughts: Nobody's really a winner
Our verdict after last night's debt-deal announcement: Nobody really won, but some lost more than others… What we learned about Obama: He still hasn't mastered dealing with Congress, but he had to put compromise and averting economic calamity (and its real and political impact) above everything else… What we learned about Boehner: He presides over an ideologically similar coalition that acts as if they aren't. And his toughest challenge will come in the next 24 hours… What we learned about the Tea Party and the GOP: They don't know when to declare victory… A final Senate vote on the deal could come later this afternoon… If you missed Brian Williams' "Taking the Hill" special last night, you can watch it online… Some 2012 candidates react to the deal (Bachmann and Huntsman) and some don't (Romney)… Romney's Super PAC raises more than the Super PAC backing Obama… And a pro-Perry Super PAC is airing a TV ad in Iowa.
*** Nobody's really a winner: Just like last year's BP spill, this entire debt debate took a months-long psychological toll on the nation. But unlike the BP spill, it was a crisis created entirely by Washington's political leaders. And now that it appears this crisis has been plugged -- though the House and Senate still must vote on the agreement reached last night -- it's clear there were no winners, as NBC's Tom Brokaw observed on "Meet the Press" yesterday. While Republicans got the cuts they were demanding (and at least got to delay any revenue/tax increases), the past few weeks have throw into question their ability to govern. And while President Obama gets his debt-ceiling increase and gets to avert economic disaster, Democrats are demoralized and commentators argue that the president has been diminished.
*** What we learned about Obama in this debate: He put compromise and averting economic calamity above everything else. His critics say he should have staked out a tougher negotiating stance -- like brandishing the 14th Amendment or producing a liberal-leaning negotiating start point -- but he never did so, which allowed the hard-charging Republicans to win more concessions. As we pointed out last week, Democrats were forced to retreat time and time again: They retreated on their push for a clean debt-ceiling raise; they retreated on the size of the spending cuts; and they backed away from insisting that tax revenues be included (although that still might happen with the upcoming congressional committee and/or the expiration of the Bush tax cuts). But through it all, Obama came across as the reasonable person in the room. Will independents and swing voters reward him for that next year? He can say to Mitt Romney or whoever his GOP opponent is next year: "Can you land the plane like I was able to?" It was ugly and messy, but got done. And there's this: There's no longer talk of Obama being a big-government socialist… But he didn't get the big deal, and we saw again that his inability to forge personal relationships on Capitol Hill cost him.
*** What we learned about John Boehner: In the end, he got his deal with Obama, but it wasn't easy. Balancing doing the responsible thing -- raising the debt ceiling -- but getting his rank-and-file to go along proved to be challenging for the speaker. But his biggest challenge will come in the next 24 hours or so, to convince his rank-and-file to accept the deal. And chew on this: It's quite possible that more Senate Democrats will vote for the compromise than Senate Republicans, while more House Republicans will vote for it than House Democrats. In the same way some on the left are questioning the president's ability to lead, Boehner's being questioned, too -- him herding cats has not been pretty to watch.
*** What we learned about the GOP and the Tea Party: Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that they don't know how to declare victory. As bruising as this entire debate was for President Obama, last Thursday's failure by Boehner to round up the GOP votes for his House bill -- before it had to be amended -- was a body blow for the House GOP. While Democrats lost in the particulars on the deal, Republicans lost in looking like a responsible governing party that deserves control of both the legislative and executive branches. But they still got what they wanted: a sizable bite out of government. But strikingly, just like how the left didn't celebrate Obama's landmark health-care achievement (even though it was the biggest expansion of the social safety net since the 1960s), the right isn't really cheering this deal (even though it represents a historic cut in government spending).
*** Senate vote timing: NBC's Libby Leist reports that both Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans meet with their respective caucuses at 11:00 am ET. If Senate goes first in voting for this deal, debate would start around noon ET, with a final vote late afternoon at the earliest.
*** Inside Congress: By the way, if you didn't see last night's special look at Congress -- "Taking the Hill" -- by NBC's Brian Williams and his team, click here for the video.
NBC's Tom Brokaw and David Gregory talk about the impact of the Tea Party on the debt deal.
*** Some 2012 candidates react (Bachmann and Huntsman) -- and some don't (Romney): So how did the 2012 candidates react to the deal? Not surprisingly, Michele Bachmann said she would vote against it. "The president continues to press for a 'balanced approach,' which everyone knows is code for increased spending and taxes," she said in a statement, per NBC's Jamie Novogrod. "Someone has to say no," she says. "I will." By comparison, Jon Huntsman recommended its passage. "While this framework is not my preferred outcome, it is a positive step toward cutting our nation's crippling debt," he said. And Mitt Romney? His campaign didn't comment one way or the other, maintaining its relative silence on this story.
*** Super PAC-men: On Sunday, "Restore Our Future" -- the Super PAC supporting Romney -- reported it has raised $12.2 million dollars in the first six months of this year, NBC's Garrett Haake reports. The Super PAC, which can accept unlimited donations, was funded exclusively by just 86 donors. There were four $1 million dollar donations, and no single donation was less than $2,500. Among the bold-faced names who wrote checks to the committee: members of the Marriott family (on whose board Romney sat until earlier this year), beer magnate August Busch III, and New York investor John Paulson, who was the only individual to write a $1 million check to the Super PAC. By the way, that $12.2 million haul is substantially larger than the $3 million-plus haul by the Democratic Super PAC supporting Obama, Priorities USA Action; its sister group, Priorities USA, brought in an additional $2 million.
*** And a Perry Super PAC is up with TV ad in Iowa: And speaking of Super PACs, one supporting Rick Perry -- who isn't even in the GOP presidential race yet -- is going up with this TV adin Iowa. Politico: "Jobs for Iowa is spending less than $40,000 for two week's worth of air time on Fox News Channel in the state… But the group is rumored to have the backing of wealthy Texas Republicans who have long supported Perry and are considering expanding the ad campaign to other states in the near future." We thought these Super PACs would be players in the general election, but we never thought they'd also be players in the primaries.
*** On the 2012 trail: Bachmann and Santorum stump in Iowa, while Huntsman campaigns in New Hampshire.
*** Monday's "Daily Rundown" line-up: Debt deal debriefings with House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), "Gang of Six" Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Tuesday Group Co-chair Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), and White House Deputy Senior Adviser Stephanie Cutter… And 2012 implications with the Washington Post's Dan Balz, National Journal's Ron Fournier and former Rep. Susan Molinari (R-NY).
Countdown to Wisconsin recall general for GOP senators: 8 days
Countdown to Iowa GOP straw poll: 12 days
Countdown to Wisconsin recall general for Dem senators: 25 days
Countdown to NV-2 and NY-9 special elections: 43 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 99 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 189 days
* Note: When the IA caucuses take place depends on whether other states move up
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