The plan is designed to give President Obama the power to raise the debt limit on his own through the end of his first term, but to force Democrats to take a series of votes on the debt limit in the months leading up to the election. This would stave off the threat of defaulting on national obligations, but keep the charged issues of debt and spending at the center of political debate for months.◼ House Speaker John Boehner Says Debt Limit Increase is Obama's Problem to Fix - ABC News
◼ McConnell announces fallback plan: Let’s give Obama the power to raise the debt ceiling himself - HotAir
◼ McConnell Proposes Alternative Debt Ceiling Deal
At first blush, this plan has some attractive elements and some serious drawbacks:
Positives - (1) It forces Democrats, especially the president, to wear this mess. Not once, but three times. (2) It (supposedly) includes over $2.5 Trillion in spending reductions. (3) It does not raise taxes. (4) And it prevents a cataclysmic default.
Negatives - (1) As far as I can tell, there are no enforcement mechanisms to hold the president to his end of the bargain on spending cuts at each step of this process. If he sets forth woefully inadequate cuts (think Obamacare-style smoke & mirrors, or devastating defense cuts), or if he simply refuses to meet the "required" dollar amounts, I don't see how Republicans can force a correction or scuttle the deal.* Once the initial legislation authorizing Obama to send these requests is passed, the die is cast. That is deeply worrisome. (2) Desperately-needed entitlement reform is off the table, meaning that huge elephant will remain in the room for the forseeable future (although one could argue this will be the case as long as Obama is president anyway). (3) Finally, on a superficial level, this strikes me as an exercise in too-cute-by-halfery. Republicans are constructing a scenario which allows them to vote no on something that they tacitly understand will come to fruition anyway. From a purely political standpoint, it makes some sense, but it's also not especially serious, given the gravity of the problem we face.
