Reid's Plan Riddled With Gimmicks

FYI –

Speaker Boehner’s plan is the only concrete path to meet the President’s request for a debt limit increase, achieve serious spending cuts, and begin to get our fiscal house in order. In stark contrast, the only option Democrats have cobbled together is a gimmick-laden blank check that will give the President and Congressional Democrats the largest debt limit increase in history and kick the can down the road.

Senator Reid’s Plan Is “A Casserole Of Gimmicks.” The CBO score of Harry Reid's debt plan tells us just what a brilliant casserole of gimmicks the Democrats have come up with. ... When we talk about gimmicks, we should note that the big knock against Reid is that his plan counts expected savings from the drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq, and that's how he gets to $2.2 trillion of cuts over 10 years. (Slate, 7/27/11)

• Behind Reid’s Big Trick: CBO credited the Reid plan with savings in war-related costs because it would specify a 10-year cap on such expenditures. Under CBO’s method of estimating spending, it assumes that current levels would continue indefinitely, even though the Obama administration has said it will wind down operations in Afghanistan soon and military activities in Iraq are already largely over. (CQ, 7/27/11)

CBO: Reid Bill $500 Billion Shy of Target (Roll Call, 7/27/11)

Reid’s Bill Fails To Make Cuts That Are Equal To Or Exceed The Increase In The Debt Ceiling: The CBO score could also force Reid to make changes to his bill, since Republicans are demanding that deficit cuts exceed or be equal to the amount the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling is raised. (The Hill, 7/27/11)

No Dollar For Dollar Savings in Reid Plan. That means Reid's legislation -- currently the only Democratic alternative to the Republicans' plan -- doesn't meet the GOP demand that spending cuts exceed any increase in the debt ceiling. (CNN, 7/27/11)