Ezra Klein's view of current events:
We seem to be coming closer to a deal on the debt ceiling. It begins with the McConnell plan, in which the debt ceiling is raised three times between now and November, and each time, Republicans are able to offer a resolution of disapproval. Then it adds in $1.5 trillion in spending cuts harvested from the Biden talks. Then it creates a committee of 12 lawmakers charged with sending a deficit-reduction plan to Congress by the end of the year. Whatever they decide on would be protected from the filibuster and immune to amendments.
Jared Bernstein sizes up the politics of such a deal:
This means House R’s would have to give up their dollar-for-dollar demand re spending cuts for debt ceiling headroom, as President Obama insists that the increase in the ceiling gets us past the election. … Whether this unbalanced deal is a bridge too far for D’s in both the House and Senate is to be seen. I suspect it won’t be and that it will continue to gain traction. The House R’s will view it as a good deal, they can keep their meshuganah Norquist pledge, the administration will have gotten something (dropping the $-for-$ demand), and most importantly, we’ll finally get the debt ceiling behind us.
The Dish 