Here's where we stand...
The morning began with Treasury Secretary doom-and-gloom...
Jack Lew explained the world as we know it will end if the US hits the debt-limit and is forced to miss a Treasury payment
And then the rumors of a "proposal" were confirmed...
In The House:
House Republicans will offer the White House a proposal:
Short-term limit increase, if accepted, will have no add-ons or conditions
Increase will allow time for continued negotiations over spending, debt
Under the plan, the Treasury Department wouldn’t be able to use so-called extraordinary measures to further extend borrowing authority, creating a hard six-week limit, said two aides requesting anonymity to discuss the proposal.
Summed up - the Republicans want to shift the debate back to spending issues without losing too much face
First votes will occur Monday, Oct. 14, at 6:30pm
- *BOEHNER SAYS DEMOCRATS `DON'T WANT TO TALK'
- *BOEHNER SAYS HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO OFFER CONFERENCE ON BUDGET
- *BOEHNER SAYS HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO OFFER WAY FORWARD
- *BOEHNER SAYS HE HOPES OBAMA WILL SEE DEAL AS GOOD-FAITH EFFORT
- *BOEHNER SAYS REPUBLICANS MOVING HALFWAY TO OBAMA'S DEMANDS
- *BOEHNER SAYS NOTHING ON TABLE, OFF TABLE
- *BOEHNER SAYS REPUBLICANS TO TALK WITH OBAMA ABOUT POSSIBLE CR
The White House Responds:
- *WHITE HOUSE SAYS WON'T NEGOTGIATE UNTIL GOVERNMENT REOPENED
- *WHITE HOUSE SAYS CONGRESS NEEDS TO OPEN GOVT, RAISE DEBT LIMIT
Meanwhile, In The Senate...
- *REID MOVES TO PROCEED TO BILL TO LIFT DEBT LIMIT THROUGH 2014
- *REID SAYS SENATE WILL TAKE TEST VOTE SATURDAY ON DEBT MEASURE
- *MCCONNELL SAYS REID'S PROPOSAL `JUST WON'T FLY'
- *MCCONNELL SAYS OBAMA HAS TO NEGOTIATE ON DEBT LIMIT
With all that, the ball is now in Obama's court where we expect an announcement from the White House shortly that he will accept the proposal grudgingly as a confirmation that he was "willing to negotiate all along" when in reality as we explained yesterday as part of the Paul Ryan "fig leaf" plan in which the core underlying issue is swept under the rug:
"yet another episode of can kicking, one which resolves the near-term stress points and pushes all the hard decisions to the future. As for the key issue on the table, Obamacare, it will be quietly, pardon the pun, tabled. Which, just as Bank of America said [9], is the compromise option. As long as the ACA is a topic of discussion no agreement can be achieved. Which is why we tend to agree: ultimately this will probably be the loophole used by Boehner and the republicans to fold once more.