No Dealing On The Debt Ceiling, Part 11

If even the low end of the estimate of Democratic House #3 man Jim Clyburn is correct, then Democrats have totally folded on the debt ceiling and have all but lost across the board in 2012.

Representative James Clyburn, the assistant Democratic leader in the U.S. House, said the “odds are very, very good” that negotiators will agree on a $3 trillion to $6 trillion package of spending cuts and tax increases in time to raise the U.S. debt limit before an Aug. 2 deadline.

Any agreement with Republicans “absolutely” must include provisions to raise more revenue, even if it also cuts corporate tax rates, said the South Carolina lawmaker, who holds the third-ranking position in the House Democratic leadership and is part of a bipartisan negotiating group of Senate and House members led by Vice President Joe Biden.

“We cannot get an agreement without revenues” being raised, and absent that “I don’t think we can get to what our goals are,” Clyburn said on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend.

Democrats will resist any Republican plan to reduce Medicare benefits for future recipients, he said.

“We are not going to reduce benefits at all” because Medicare is “a very important part of the safety net” in American society, Clyburn said.

His comments underscore the difficulty negotiators face in reaching an agreement, as Republicans insist on no tax increases and demand significant cuts in spending, including a readjustment of entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

Republican leaders also insist that a package of spending cuts without any net increase in federal tax revenue must be part of an agreement to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. 

So, hands off Medicare, but the Republicans get a minimum of $3 trillion in cuts?  If this is the new position of the Dems, then it's over, folks.  We've lost.  So much for the "clean" debt ceiling bill.  The GOP is getting everything it wants, and the second President Obama signs this bill, they will be cutting ads saying the brave heroic Republicans cut trillions in gubment spending, and the evil, horrible Democrat Party raised your taxes so you must PUNISH THEM.

If at this point we're up to trillions in cuts, and the only question now is how much and where, then it's just about over for the Dems in 2012.  And if there's a dime's worth of cuts in Medicare and Obama signs it, the Republicans will end up with the whole ball of wax in 2012.

I really hope this is just Clyburn pushing the panic button and forcing progressive groups to get involved here.  If this is the deal, $3-$6 trillion in deficit reduction at a time when the government is the lender and buyer of last resort, then this economic disaster will last a decade.