Round one, almost done. Get ready for round two
by digby
So, this is the latest, via Sam Stein:
"Republican senators, leaving a Monday afternoon caucus meeting, told reporters that fiscal cliff negotiators have agreed to delay the $1.2 trillion in sequestration related cuts for two months. A Democratic source confirmed that timeframe. That puts the deadline roughly at the same time as the debt ceiling will have to be raised. This presents a natural invitation for lawmakers to exchange the lifting of the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts, which is bad news for an administration that has pledged not to negotiate at all over the debt ceiling. On the flip side, however, Republicans find the sequestration cuts far more onerous than Democrats (half come from defense funds). So the de facto outcome still does favor the president if, indeed, those cuts must be part of a debt ceiling deal.
It sounds like a trainwreck to me, taking the el foldo on the debt ceiling and compounding it with the threat of sequestration, but as I've said over and over again, every day that they don't cut vital programs is a good day. But oy --- that sounds like a recipe for austerity plus if I ever saw one. And considering that the President hasn't exactly been a stalwart defender of our safety net in these negotiations, I will take a deep breath and then start thinking about how to organize to ensure they don't get dealt away in "stage II" of a Grand Bargain deal.
This is like the Bataan death march.
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