Congressional leaders and the White House have been working to reach a bipartisan agreement to deal with the debt ceiling and deficit reduction, but they seem to be going in separate directions yet again. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is unveiling a two-step plan and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is unveiling his one-step plan. Congress and the White House feel the sense of urgency these debt negotiations bring, but any floor action most likely will not happen until midweek. They're running out of days to come to an agreement before the government defaults for the first time ever, which is what leaders in both parties say they want to avoid at all costs.
Boehner's plan has two steps because he says it's not physically possible to do it all in one. The first step includes increasing the debt limit and capping spending for fiscal years 2012 and 2013 between $3 trillion and $5 trillion overall, which could save more than $1 trillion during the next 10 years. The second step includes the creation of a special congressional commission to propose more budget cuts. Reid doesn't like that plan. His plan includes a bill for raising the debt limit through 2012 by $2.5 trillion all at once without cutbacks in entitlement programs. The debt ceiling increase in Boehner's plan may not be high enough to get through the Senate, and Reid's plan most likely won't get through the House.
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