Politico...
As debt ceiling scramble continues, Boehner signals options are open
By David Rogers
7/14/11 

With White House debt talks at a make-or-break stage, Speaker John Boehner signaled Thursday that he’s open to new options to avert a default next month, including a novel Senate plan that would surrender much of Congress’s power over Treasury’s borrowing to the president. 

It would be a remarkable shift for House Republicans — something like telling Pickett’s charge to go around Cemetery Ridge and not up it. And Boehner’s remarks may be a ploy as he keeps throwing out options to his rank and file in hopes that they come around to the merits of the $4 trillion grand bargain he attempted with President Barack Obama last week — before being pulled down by the right. 

But time is running short, and to describe Congress as a confused, even panicky army at this stage is not an overstatement. Senate leaders in both parties already are working on some survival strategy. And Obama, who will address the debt issue at a press conference Friday morning, will be forced to do the same unless he can salvage a more meaningful deficit reduction strategy over the weekend.

The genius of the plan put forward by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is that it gives lawmakers what politicians most love: an out. But it’s so obvious in doing so that deficit hawks are dismayed at the crossroads Congress has reached. 

As outlined by McConnell, Congress would temporarily surrender its power to approve any increase in the debt ceiling. Instead, lawmakers would authorize more than $2.5 trillion in new borrowing authority for the Treasury to be implemented in three increments of $700 billion this month, $900 billion in the fall and the final $900 billion next summer. 

The president would be required in each case to list corresponding savings. But under the new rules of the road, Congress could only stop each increase by adopting a veto-proof resolution of disapproval. 

That hands the power to one-third of each chamber, an infuriating prospect for many House Republicans. And in the Senate, McConnell candidly admits that he would have little chance then of prevailing since the GOP begins with just 47 votes. 

“Mitch described his proposal as a last-ditch effort, in case we’re unable to do anything else,” Boehner told reporters Thursday. “What may look like something less than optimal today if we’re unable to reach an agreement, it might look pretty good a couple of weeks from now. … Frankly, I think it is an option that may be worthy at some point.” 

McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are already looking at ways to expand on the bill, including the addition of substantial savings identified in talks with the White House. And McConnell very much wants some agreement upfront on spending caps for annual appropriations bills for fiscal 2012 as well as 2013. 

With their combined muscle, the two leaders stand a good chance of winning Senate passage, but the real test will be what Boehner and his leadership must next add to get the bill through the House. 

“I think we need to continue to solve our short-term and long-term debt issue. That means the big deal,’ the Speaker said Thursday evening in a Fox News interview. ‘This is the moment of opportunity here.’” 

Read the rest of the story at Politico