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August 1, 2011
Debt ceiling: What they'll be voting on
On Monday, Congress will start voting on a last-minute debt ceiling deal that would keep the country out of default and reduce deficits by an estimated $2.5 trillion over a decade.
Whether the deal might also avert a first-ever credit downgrade for the United States is not clear, since ratings agency Standard & Poor's indicated it was looking for a credible, bipartisan plan that had at least $4 trillion of debt reduction.
As described by the parties Sunday night, the plan includes no tax or entitlement reform measures up front, although theoretically it leaves the door open to both.
The Senate is set to vote first, then the House. They don't have much time. The debt ceiling must be raised by Tuesday.
A debt ceiling increase of between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion: The framework will raise the debt ceiling immediately by $400 billion, then by another $500 billion after September.
After deep cuts are enacted by the end of the year, it will be increased by another $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion.
All told, the increases should cover the Treasury's borrowing needs until 2013.
About $2.4 trillion in spending cuts: The framework would immediately cap domestic and defense spending, resulting in cuts of $917 billion over 10 years, according to House Speaker John Boehner. Democrats have described the magnitude of initial cuts as nearly $1 trillion.
The framework then calls for more deficit reduction -- between $1.2 trillion and $1.5trillion worth -- to be determined by the end of this year and imposed over 10 years.
Bipartisan debt-reduction committee: That second round of deficit reduction would be proposed by a special bipartisan joint committee of Congress. The committee has until Thanksgiving to come up with its proposals and those proposals would be guaranteed by an up-or-down vote without amendment by Dec. 23.
If the committee proposes and the Congress approves between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion in cuts, the debt ceiling will be increased dollar for dollar.
If the committee deadlocks or comes up with less than $1.2 trillion in cuts, or if Congress votes down the committee's proposals, the debt ceiling will be raised by $1.2 trillion.
While it appears the committee will be free to consider entitlement and tax reform -- and dare we say it, tax hikes -- practically speaking it's more likely members would hit an impasse over these measures just as they have, oh, every other day this year.
0:00 / 4:09 Obama maps out debt deal
Across-the-board cuts as trigger: If the committee deadlocks or fails to come up with at least $1.2 trillion in debt reduction, the sword of Damocles will fall on most forms of spending in the federal budget.
Specifically, as much as $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts would kick in - evenly divided between defense and non-defense spending.
Exempt from this round of cuts, however, would be programs that aid low-income Americans, according to Democrats' fact sheets. These include Social Security, Medicaid, veterans' benefits and pensions, food stamps and Supplemental Security Income.
While Medicare would not be exempt, the framework would restrict cuts to no more than 2% of the program's cost. And the cuts that occur would not affect Medicare benefits nor would they increase seniors' costs, according to the White House fact sheet.
Required vote on balanced budget amendment In theory, the across-the-board cuts could be avoided if instead both chambers of Congress pass a Balanced Budget amendment to the Constitution and send it to the states for ratification before the end of the year.
But for a host of reasons, political and substantive, that's very unlikely to happen.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/01/news/economy/debt_ceiling_breakdown_of_deal/
