Boehner Offers New Plan, Obama To Address Nation

UPDATE (4:30pm) — House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) unveiled his latest measure to reduce the country’s deficit and raise the debt ceiling. Boehner’s new plan is two-fold. First, it cuts spending in the short-term by roughly $1.2 trillion while authorizing a debt limit hike of $1 trillion. Next, it commissions a bipartisan group of lawmakers to recommend ways of cutting another $1 trillion, after which the debt limit would be raised again before the end of next year. The plan is revenue neutral and calls on lawmakers to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment, though its passage is not required in order for the debt ceiling to be raised….

Meanwhile, the White House, clearly fed up with House Republicans’ refusal to go along with a new plan proposed Monday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), announced late Monday afternoon that President Obama will address the nation in a televised speech that will begin tonight at 9:00 pm ET…

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers have failed to strike a deal on a plan to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, despite attending a series of meetings at the White House over the weekend.

On Saturday, the party leaders from both chambers met for approximately 50 minutes and left “agreed to return to Capitol Hill to talk to their members and discuss a way forward.”

However, on Sunday, after Pelosi and Reid returned to the White House for an additional meeting, a deal failed to materialize. Media reports indicated that a divide continued to exist, with House Republicans pursuing a multi-step approach to raising the debt ceiling and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) proposing a long-term extension that reduces the deficit $2.7 trillion and drops Democrats’ demands to increase revenue.

In a statement, Reid called the House Republicans’ approach a “non-starter.”

“A short-term extension would not provide the certainty the markets are looking for, and risks many of the same dire economic consequences that would be triggered by default itself,” Reid said.

Negotiations continue as August 2^nd for default approaches. The White House has continually warned that failing to raise the debt ceiling by the early-August deadline would have a catastrophic effect on the economy.