While talks between President Obama and Congressional leaders to lift the debt ceiling by August 2nd remain stalled, members of Congress are pursuing their own ideas.
Today, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) unveils his plan to cut the deficit by $9 trillion over the next decade. Senator Coburn was one of the “Gang of Six” senators working on a bipartisan budget-cutting deal, but he walked away from the negotiations in May to work on his own plan.
His plan to cut $9 trillion far outpaces any other proposal. President Obama wanted to cut the deficit by $4 trillion in his “grand bargain,” and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) released a plan earlier this year that would have cut $6 trillion dollars.
However, Sen. Coburn doubts that his proposal will pass in the Senate. He told CBS's "Face the Nation" yesterday that he doesn't expect his fellow GOP Senators to approve of the defense department cuts and targeted tax increases built into his proposal.
Meanwhile Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and his Republican counterpart, Senator Mitch McConnell (KY), continue work on a plan initiated by Sen. McConnell that would include modest cuts to spending and would allow the President to raise the debt ceiling without the Republicans having to vote in favor of it.
Senator Reid announced today that the Senate will work weekends and will stay in session beyond its scheduled August 5th summer recess until the debt ceiling is lifted.
In the House, members will debate and vote on a Republican measure called the "Cut, Cap and Balance Act." It would raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion, but it would be accompanied by a $111 billion cut from the 2012 budget, cap spending to under 20% in less than a decade, and it would require an amendment to the Constitution to balance the budget.
The White House put out a statement saying it "strongly opposes" the Republican measure and said the President would veto it. "Neither setting arbitrary spending levels nor amending the Constitution is necessary to restore fiscal responsibility," a statement by the Office of Management and Budget read. However, history proves otherwise or we wouldn't be in this fix. Congress and the President has typically been unable to restrain themselves when it comes to spending the taxpayers' money. Anyone who opposes a balanced budget amendment, especially on the flimsy grounds stated by the White House, must be voted out of office as soon as possible. Being against a balanced budget is like being against apple pie and motherhood.
The House Rules Committee will debate the measure Monday evening.
House Democrats want to vote on a straight measure to raise the debt ceiling. “We hope we can have a grand bargain,” Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Friday, but she said it does not have to coincide with the debt limit
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