Free Republic

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has revised his plan to raise the debt limit in a last-ditch bid to attract Republican support. The biggest change is that Reid would give the president almost unilateral power to raise the debt limit, borrowing an idea introduced by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Reid would have President Obama request a $2.4 trillion debt-limit increase in two installments of $1.2 trillion each. The requests would be subject to congressional resolutions of disapproval, but these would do little to restrict the president.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Folks, big news here. Forbes.com: "Obama Calls Democrat Leaders to White House." They have a meeting to take place shortly before three p.m. In other words: Obama has summoned Democrats only to a post-Rush show meeting at the White House. Obama has told the Democrats in Congress, the leaders: Come to the White House for a meeting after the Limbaugh show. That's what it means when you got a meeting that starts at three o'clock. That means you're meeting after the Rush show. Now, what could their problem be? You figure they got a problem. They're not...

Debating the McConnell PlanIn the House, Republicans are divided on how much to compromise. As Senate leaders Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) iron out the details of a controversial plan to raise the debt ceiling, House conservatives are already gearing up to reject it en masse. House GOP leaders, however, have refused to rule out the McConnell option. “I think there probably is a showdown coming,” Rep. Joe Walsh (R., Ill.) tells National Review Online. “There is a strong contingent in the House that believes this country needs to have a fight over this immoral debt...

Well, well, well. As Monday’s news cycle gets into full gear, we’re starting to see exactly what Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi are cooking up for the American public — pretend spending cuts and very real tax increases. It is like the GOP learned nothing from No Child Left Behind. In NCLB, the GOP let liberals like Teddy Kennedy write the legislation and when the legislation’s very foreseeable outcomes appeared, the GOP got the blame for the disaster the law wrought on the public school system. And now we’re going to get a new deficit commission that is...

An Obama administration official said Sunday morning that while a deal hasn't been struck by congressional leaders and the White House progress is being made. Jacob Lew, White House budget director, said progress is reflected in increased activity in talks between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and a realization by most lawmakers that a debt ceiling increase must happen before Aug. 2. "It's not insignificant that all leaders understand that it would be irresponsible to get to Aug. 2 and not extend the ability of the United States to pay its debt,"...

Shortly after Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell unveiled his “contingency” plan for a debt limit increase, the Associated Press bulletin read: “GOP Leader McConnell proposes giving Obama new power for automatic debt limit increase.” It’s surely not the headline McConnell wanted, but unlike much of the media coverage of the debt fight, it’s accurate. And that’s a problem. It is not, however, the main problem with the McConnell plan. Far worse, in my view, is that the plan isolates House Republicans, it undercuts their (tentative) plan to offer an aggressive debt limit proposal of their own, it turns their principled...