Debt Deal: Rumors Circulate About GOP Congressional Compromise, Mostly Circulated By Dems, Boehner Tweets “False”, No Clear Answer Emerges
Jul 21, 2011 4 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Democrats and Republicans are nearing a potential debt deal that would include $3 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade, sources said Thursday, though the White House and House Speaker John Boehner emphatically denied that they were close to an agreement.
A Democrat congressional aide told Fox News that the package would not include revenue increases. A source outside Congress who is advising negotiators confirmed this, adding that the possible plan would include a “promise of fundamental tax reform” to lower individual rates and simplify the tax code.
Talk of a possible deal to raise the debt ceiling on those terms already has shaken Senate Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said an agreement can’t be composed only of spending cuts and would need to include some revenue for the sake of “balance.”
He said that while he’s told there is no agreement, negotiators are working toward one.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney tried to muffle chatter about the talks at the press briefing Thursday.
“There is no deal. We are not close to a deal,” Carney said. He shot down a report in The New York Times that first claimed a major deal was in the works.
Boehner likewise labeled the report “false” on his Twitter page.
Democratic aides on Thursday said the White House and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) were moving closer to a deal to reduce federal deficits and raise the debt ceiling.
Democrats were told Wednesday night that Obama is prepared to cut a deal with Boehner that would include spending cuts and concrete entitlement reforms, according to two senior Democratic aides.
The aides said the deal would only include the promise of tax reform next year. This would represent a major concession, the aides said, since it would not include any concrete revenue increases as part of the deal.
