Serious people

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Tuesday bluntly told House Republicans to stop “grumbling and whining” about Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) new proposal for a limited debt-limit increase.

Cantor made the statement in a closed-door conference meeting, a Republican with knowledge of his remarks told The Hill.

Boehner and Cantor are trying to rally restive members of their caucus behind a plan that would authorize up to $1 trillion in new debt in exchange for $1.2 trillion in spending cuts and the promise of more in the future.

Some conservatives have balked at the proposal, however, and Boehner could not guarantee on Tuesday morning that the bill would pass the House, given Democratic opposition.

In the closed-door meeting Tuesday, Cantor praised Boehner’s leadership and acknowledged that “the debt-limit vote sucks.” But he told lawmakers they had only three choices: allow the country to default on Aug. 2, pass a Senate bill that Boehner has denounced as “full of gimmicks” and a “blank check” for President Obama or support the GOP leadership and “call the president’s bluff.”

Cantor “said to stop grumbling and whining and to come together as conservatives and rally behind the speaker and call the president’s bluff,” the Republican with knowledge of his remarks said.

The Democrats and Republicans in Washington may be trying to compromise, but they just aren’t that serious. They really aren’t. And now a bunch of House Republicans are going wobbly, backing down from holding the line, and willing to take John Boehner’s plan — a compromise wherein they are compromising only with themselves.

According to Forbes, a ratings downgrade would be worse than a technical default. Unfortunately, sources who have spoken to Standards & Poor tell CNN’s Erin Burnett that John Boehner’s plan — the one Allen West and others are lining up to support — would cause the U.S. to lose its AAA credit rating.

Why? No, ti has nothing to do with John Boehner embracing the McConnell idea of letting the President raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval and then letting Congress vote to “disapprove”. But it does that too.

No, it’s because the credit reporting agencies have said the U.S. Congress must show real cuts of $4 trillion or more. John Boehner’s plan doesn’t even come close in real dollar terms — excluding accounting gimmicks the credit agencies are not buying. John Boehner’s plan could best be called “Punt, Kick, and Pass.” It punts the problem to another stupid commission, kicks the can down the road, and passes more debt onto future generations.

So here is the great conundrum for the House GOP. Reid’s plan cannot pass the House. John Boehner’s plan probably can. Ultimately, John Boehner’s plan and Harry Reid’s plan are pretty close and both would probably result in a credit downgrade.