Looks like there is a deal.

[Marston]

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[Atlas Has Shrugged]

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That seems reasonable.

[Lief 🗽]

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[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

so the commission would be tasked with cuts in entitlement spending but the automatic trigger wouldn't contain any? absurd.

it's amazing how democrats are now willing to cut just about any part of government - with a hatchet not a scapel, no less - to stop from having to make reforms on medicare or social security benefits.

[Holmes]

Ugh, just let this thing pass. I'm so tired of hearing about the debt ceiling.

[BigSkyBob]

Boehner is denying it. I don't see how anything that can get through the Senate can get through the House. Too many nutters.

Yes, the Senate is full of Senators exhibiting clinical denial concerning the fact that deficits and debt cannot continue to grow expodentially without some day of reckoning.

[fezzyfestoon]

Just in time for vacation! Good for them.

[anvi]

It's actually a pretty interesting deal in outline.

Does anybody have any information about what the first $1 trillion in cuts will involve, beyond the military bases?  NPR story identifies cuts to the National Parks Service, the Labor Department, Housing and Urban Development, and a "hundred" other discretionary programs.

[BigSkyBob]

Boehner is denying it. I don't see how anything that can get through the Senate can get through the House. Too many nutters.

The centers of both parties.  GOP loses 60 votes in the House and gains 30 Democrats.  The Democrats lose 20 votes in the Senate and gain 15 Republicans.

The parties don't have close to enough centrists. Even in your example. House GOP has 240 members. Minus 60 would be 180. Plus 30 Dems would only be 210. The Senate Dems have 53 members if you count indies. Minus 20 is 33. Plus 15 is only 48. Fail.

Gerrymandering is what created this extremism. 

No, the financial arms race in which candidates spend ever increasing amount of time raising ever growing amounts of money has created a situation in which Democrats can't say "No!," to trial lawyers and labor unions, while Republican members are equally beholden to another series of financial contributors.

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[Meeker]

I can live with this given the alternative.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

You can honestly leave the gallery for this and get back in?  (I figured it'd be hard to get a seat.  Maybe my faith in the American people's interest in this is a little too strong.)

[DrScholl]

I wonder how many times you have claimed Obamas sympanthy card ("boo hoo I inheirited this)...? I am in NO WAY a Bush fan, believe me, but, instead of fixing the problem, Obama made it worse; way worse. Has he even proposed a plan?

First off, the word is spelled "inherited". Second, it's not about blame, it's about how the whole thing got started. No matter who was elected President, the country was headed for economic trouble because of previous mismanagement. The problem was fixed completely, but it was prevented from being much, much worse than it could have been.

[NVGonzalez]

I will also withhold my judgement till I meet the devil hidden inside this deal.

[Lief 🗽]

I can live with this given the alternative.

Yeah, I might need someone to explain to me why I should be outraged on this one...

[Keystone Phil]

You can honestly leave the gallery for this and get back in?  (I figured it'd be hard to get a seat.  Maybe my faith in the American people's interest in this is a little too strong.)

Yep. We went back and forth three times today and they were very considerate. Plenty of people did it this weekend.

[Marston]

It's actually a pretty interesting deal in outline.

Does anybody have any information about what the first $1 trillion in cuts will involve, beyond the military bases?  NPR story identifies cuts to the National Parks Service, the Labor Department, Housing and Urban Development, and a "hundred" other discretionary programs.

I think the appropriations process will determine what exactly gets cut. They just have to stay under the caps in the legislation. If they don't, then across-the-board sequestration will spread the pain evenly.

Also, the DoD's Base budget doesn't mean 'military bases' (although that's included). It is the total sum of the sub-budgets of 'Military Personnel', 'Procurement', 'Operations and Maintenance', etc.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

You can honestly leave the gallery for this and get back in?  (I figured it'd be hard to get a seat.  Maybe my faith in the American people's interest in this is a little too strong.)

Yep. We went back and forth three times today and they were very considerate. Plenty of people did it this weekend.

I guess I just figured the galleries would be filled during this interesting political drama.  I guess people are just too busy watching their soaps and Dancing with the Stars finale to care.

[King]

Boehner is denying it. I don't see how anything that can get through the Senate can get through the House. Too many nutters.

Yes, the Senate is full of Senators exhibiting clinical denial concerning the fact that deficits and debt cannot continue to grow expodentially without some day of reckoning.

Yes.  But is it really today?

I heard an interesting thing from one of CNN's international correspondents today covering Asian markets, which haven't risen very much since the news of the deal broke.  A person he talked to at a large firm said they really didn't know about the debt ceiling until this whole mess was brought up and are now downgrading their opinion of investment in American bonds because of its mere existence and potential for deals to not be reached in the future.  Nice job, Teabaggers.

[Bull Moose Base]

I like Ezra Klein's analysis of why tonight's deal reveals both Washington is completely broken but still likely to stumble its way to balanced debt reduction.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/a-deal-that-found-the-lowest-common-denominator/2011/07/11/gIQAde9TmI_blog.html

Excepting the matter of growth which balanced debt reduction hurts in a balanced way.

[anvi]

Thanks for the clarification, Marston.

[MaxQue]

Well, too bad there is no taxes hike on the richer, but, at last, US government was forced to control its deficit.

[Keystone Phil]

You can honestly leave the gallery for this and get back in?  (I figured it'd be hard to get a seat.  Maybe my faith in the American people's interest in this is a little too strong.)

Yep. We went back and forth three times today and they were very considerate. Plenty of people did it this weekend.

I guess I just figured the galleries would be filled during this interesting political drama.  I guess people are just too busy watching their soaps and Dancing with the Stars finale to care.

It was about half full last night and today, which is actually a lot. You're not going to attract tons of tourists to something like this in DC. Many people are traveling with children and having them sit in the gallery in almost total silence (this was pretty lax this weekend though, to the point where I think it bordered on being down right inappropriate but that's another story) is going to be a non-starter.

A few people brought their kids but they were slouched in their chairs, trying to sleep after a long day in a very, very hot city (it was the hottest weekend ever in DC, if I heard correctly. I know that they said Friday was the hottest day on record there. I get to say I survived it while fighting a cold, too ). Add on the fact that the gallery guards were warning people to stop sleeping, reading outside books/newspapers, etc. while the Senate was in recess and you ought to realize that a half full gallery is still impressive.

[King]

Well, too bad there is no taxes hike on the richer, but, at last, US government was forced to control its deficit.

Tax hikes on the rich won't return until Republicans return to power in the 20s, a balanced budget amendment is implemented, the austerity begins, and citizens demand their services back. The hands of the 2030s Democratic administration will be tied.

It's part of the great circle of life.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

So how did Phil get to be in the Capitol for this? Does he work for somebody, is he a prominent activist, or was he just lucky enough to get ringside seats for this drama? Whatever the case may be, I'm...actually a little jealous.

[King]

So how did Phil get to be in the Capitol for this? Does he work for somebody, is he a prominent activist, or was he just lucky enough to get ringside seats for this drama? Whatever the case may be, I'm...actually a little jealous.

Let's just say Santorum was involved.