The Wall Street Journal Online reports:
The so-called Plan B is taking shape in quiet discussions between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), away from unhappy House Republicans who don't favor the approach.
It would link a package of spending cuts to a plan Mr. McConnell proposed earlier this week that would give the president the power to raise the debt limit through 2012 in three installments, unless two-thirds of Congress voted to block it. It likely wouldn't include any tax increases, a senior Democratic aide familiar with the discussions said.
This is nothing but a hare-brained scheme that gives Obama more power. McConnell is known as a Washington "wheeler-dealer" and is hell-bent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. This also would saddle the GOP with blame over the economy.
Let's face it. This whole debt limit matter boils down to two positions:
1. The Democrats (led by Obama) want tax increases and they want more spending.
2. The Republicans want spending cuts and low taxes.
On Friday, the fiscal conservative group, Club for Growth, voiced strong opposition to McConnell's debt ceiling plan, calling it a "backroom deal."
"The American people didn't send more Republicans to Washington so they could give President Obama more power," said Club for Growth's President Chris Chocola. "This backroom deal is just another sellout of the free-market principles that make America strong."
McConnell seems to be in a panic for no reason. If an agreement isn't reached by August 2, the Obama Administration says that the government will be in default. That is utter nonsense. The treasury has plenty of money to meet obligations. It is just a scare tactic.
If McConnell and other "wobbly" Republicans can't show enough spine, then it is time to get new GOP leadership.
At least one senator is willing to put up a fight against McConnell's scheme: Jim DeMint of South Carolina.
"I'll use every tool in Senate to stop passage of 'Plan B' blank check debt limit increase," DeMint said in a Twitter Tweet. "No Republican was elected to give President Obama more power and that's what this plan does."
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