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Politico...
Democrats
and some Republicans still
grumbling
By Jonathan Allen & Jake Sherman
& Manu Raju
7/31/11
Even
before the details of a
debt-limit deal began to spill out over the weekend, Democrats in
Congress
started to show the signs of a party getting rolled by its own
president — and
conservative Republicans were chafing at a deal that exposes the
Pentagon to
deep cuts.
The
blowback on Sunday’s deal making
serves to underscore the uphill battle both parties face to pass a debt
ceiling
hike and avert defaulting on the nation’s debt — all before Tuesday’s
default
deadline.
The
Democrats’ opening bid — a clean
debt-limit increase not tied to any deficit reduction — has long since
been
forgotten. President Barack Obama’s hopes for a “grand bargain” of as
much as
$4 trillion over 10 years imploded at the negotiating table weeks ago.
Now,
they’re staring down the barrel of $3 trillion in spending cuts, a
two-step
process that pushes the politically unsavory debt-limit debate into
next year
and the likelihood that deficit reduction will come at the expense of
favored
entitlement programs rather than tax breaks for wealthy Americans.
The
fig leaves: The plan would prevent
another debt-limit crisis next year and defense programs would be
included in a
“trigger” of automatic cuts that would go into effect if Congress
doesn’t come
up with its own deficit-reduction plan.
“This
deal trades people’s livelihoods
for the votes of a few unappeasable right-wing radicals, and I will not
support
it,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), speaking for many liberals who
head
into the final hours feeling like their interests were ignored.
But
Democratic discomfort doesn’t
necessarily equate to Republican glee — and House Speaker John Boehner
(R-Ohio)
isn’t willing to push a deal through his chamber on the strength of a
coalition
heavily tilted toward Democrats, even if the deal leans heavily toward
Republican goals.
“It’s
going to be insufficient,
clearly,” said Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the
Budget
Committee. “I don’t like all these secret talks. We have not done
anything
publicly.”
Sen.
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on
ABC’s “This Week” that he doesn’t “see many conservatives getting
behind this.”
Read
the rest of the story at Politico
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