My colleague Conn Carroll and I have been having a back and forth over the benefit of repealing the individual mandate as part of a trigger within the debt deal. Read More

A number of conservatives have trashed the $3 trillion deficit-reduction deal reportedly the works between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio (even though both sides deny any deal). Read More

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said at just concluded press conference that it was now up to the Senate to pass its own plan to raise the debt ceiling.  “The House has done its job," Boehner said. "We’ve given the president an increase in the debt ceiling of $2.4 trillion, which would take us at least the next 18 months. For that, we’re asking for real cuts in spending and a balanced budget amendment. So the House has done its job, and I hope that the Senate will do theirs.” Read More

Though he had emphatically ruled out the idea of a short-term debt deal, President Obama is now willing to sign one if the parties are close to a bigger agreement but need time to hammer out the details before the Aug. 2 deadline, White House press secretary Jay Carney said today. Read More

While a deal to raise the debt ceiling is still eluding negotiators, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., says his staff is already busy putting potential compromises in legislative language so they can react as quickly as possible if and when an agreement is struck. “We’re writing stuff right now,” Ryan told me in a phone interview this afternoon. “Our Budget Committee staff is already writing things as contingencies. So we’re already preparing legislation based upon hunches of where this is going so that it’s ready.” Read More

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., today released a sweeping plan to reduce deficits by $9 trillion over the next ten years by grabbing at multiple third rails in Washington -- slowing the growth of entitlements, slashing the defense budget, and reducing tax deductions for employer-based health care coverage and home mortgages. Read More

Even if Republicans were to suddenly cave and vote Monday morning to hike the debt limit without any conditions, it would not spare the United States from the risk of a credit downgrade. In the past several days, rating agencies Moody's and Standard and Poor's have both issued warnings that they could downgrade the U.S. credit rating if the debt limit is not raised. However, they also said that the ratings could be downgraded even if a deal is reached to raise the debt limit, but there isn't a credible agreement to tackle our debt burden. Read More