Sources have told CNN that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is demanding a wide rage of entitlement cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
Cuts to Social Security and Medicare are apparently accompanied by the GOP's latest demand to stop protecting our water sources.
McConnell is seeking a reduction in cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security recipients and new restrictions on Medicare, including limiting benefits to the rich and raising the eligibility age, several sources said. In addition, the Kentucky Republican is eager to see new policy riders enacted, including reining in the Environmental Protection Agency's clean water regulations.
I don't expect the White House will agree to a single, solitary cut in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. Zero. None.
I can't think of a reason why the president would agree to anything as he approaches his final year in office.
Given the complete and very public disarray of the Republican-controlled Congress, any dysfunction we experience in the coming weeks will undoubtedly fall on them. Furthermore, Majority Leader McConnell and Speaker Boehner have both clearly demonstrated that they're unwilling to actually push the nation over the fiscal cliff to extract concessions.
That is, after all, why conservatives hate both them; they're unwilling to burn it all down.
If Speaker of the House Boehner does not pass a bill to raise the debt ceiling before he leaves office, it will be entirely his choosing and his fault.
Just in case anyone has forgotten -- raising the debt ceiling does not enable new spending. Raising the debt ceiling enables the treasury to pay for spending Congress has already authorized. Republicans are demanding concessions in exchange for paying the nation's bills.