The shape of the debt ceiling deal

Major Garrett:

...

...  the tentative deal include: 
  • $2.8 trillion in deficit reduction with $1 trillion locked in through discretionary spending caps over 10 years and the remainder determined by a so-called "Super Committee."
  • The Super Committee must report precise deficit-reduction proposals by Thanksgiving.
  • The Super Committee would have to propose $1.8 trillion in spending cuts to achieve that amount of deficit reduction over 10 years.
  • If the Super Committee fails, Congress must send a balanced-budget amendment to the states for ratification. If that doesn't happen, across-the-board spending cuts would go into effect and could touch Medicare and defense spending.
  • No net new tax revenue would be part of the special committee's deliberations.
This is similar to the last Boehner plan    While I am sure some absolutist will not like it, from my perspective it is a clear win for the Republicans and their conservative members.  There will be more cutting that will have to be done in the future, but we can get to a balanced budget at some point and this is a start.

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