Growls

Although the “debt ceiling’s” final votes are still being taken in the House of Representatives and the Senate, here is how Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports the current situation in a story posted online this afternoon:

“The debt framework President Obama and congressional leaders reached Sunday night runs 74 pages long, and could authorize as much as $2.4 trillion in new debt — or $32.4 billion per page.

“That debt increase will get the country through the 2012 election, both sides said, but it does not bring to an end the sea of red ink that will continue to wash over the federal government for the foreseeable future.

“In the near term, the bill sets budget numbers for 2012 that would require a real cut of $7 billion in discretionary spending from 2011 levels, though that’s $25 billion less than projected spending would have been had it kept pace with inflation.

“Over the long term, the deal could lead to as much as $2.4 trillion in lower-than-projected spending over the next decade, which also works out to about $32.4 billion per page in lower spending — if all of the conditions are met. But during those 10 years, that still means the country could pile up another $10.4 trillion in new debt, which would leave the government well more than $20 trillion in debt by the end of the decade.”

Worse news, though, comes from a story posted today by Susan Jones at CNSNews.com, which indicates that President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) “eye new commission as way to achieve tax hikes.” She goes on to say:

“President Obama clearly expects the panel to consider tax hikes as part of those “deficit reduction measures.” In remarks Sunday night, he called the 12-member commission an “important” part of the tentative debt deal.

“Over the next few months, Obama said, “I’ll continue to make a detailed case to these lawmakers about why I believe a balanced approach is necessary to finish the job.”

That is confirmed in the third talking point in a White House fact sheet that says the so-called deal:

“Establishes a bipartisan process to seek a balanced approach to larger deficit reduction through entitlement and tax reform.”

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) issued a brief statement during the day on the “debt limit deal.” AFP concluded their statement saying:

“While we appreciate that the debate has been focused on the right problem of spending and has considerably improved from earlier bipartisan proposals, we must remain firm to our commitment to the Cut, Cap, and Balance approach as the only way to genuinely solve the problem of out-of-control spending. Until strong balanced budget amendment has been adopted, we urge Congress to vote no on authorizing any additional debt.”

Stay tuned. The entire debt ceiling imbroglio goes to show, however, in just how much more work conservatives and the Tea Party movement has to do.