In an interesting turn of events, the Congressional Budget Office rating Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)’s debt ceiling plan. Just one day after the CBO scored Speaker John Boehner’s plan, the non partisan congressional scorekeeper released their findings on Reid’s plan.

On Tuesday, the CBO stated that the Speaker’s plan would save $850 billion over the course of 10 years. Reid’s plan would reduce the deficit by $2.2 trillion over the next decade, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said. The Speaker was already forced to pull his bill over the low score from the CBO and stated that he was going to “rework” it. Reid’s plan also included no tax hikes or increases in revenue, a demand of the Republican Party.

Two major differences account for the conflicting scores. In Reid’s plan, the very expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will completely end. Also, Boehner’s plan only raised the debt ceiling by one trillion dollars and was only trying to find a trillion cuts to match the amount of raising the debt ceiling. Under Reid’s plan, the debt ceiling would be raised until 2013.

Rep. Boehner defends his plan, calling the CBO results “misleading.” Boeher spokesman Michael Steele explained why the report was misleading.

This report shows the Senate plan for what it is: a grab-bag of gimmicks that gives the President a blank check. In contrast to the bill House Republicans have offered, the Senate Democratic bill counts as ‘savings’ a trillion dollars in war money that would never have been spent — and on top of that, slashes the defense budget in a manner that would hurt our men and women in uniform in a time of war.

It relies on smoke and mirrors for half of its ‘savings,’ yet still cuts $500 billion less than promised. In reality, the Reid plan would only save taxpayers about $1 trillion while giving the President the largest debt limit increase in history. Despite previous claims, it significantly falls short of the requirement that we cut more than we increase in the debt limit.

President Obama and other Democrat leaders are supporting Reid’s plan. Reid has hinted that Congress may be working on a compromise. “Magic things can happen here in Congress in a very short period of time under the right circumstances,” said Reid, the Senate majority leader.
Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanprogressaction/

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About the author

Erin Chavez
Erin Whitney-Chavez has been writing professionally since 2009. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts from St. Bonaventure University and received a Master of Arts in mental-health counseling from Argosy University. Erin Whitney-Chavez is a licensed mental health counselor and has worked in the mental-health field for more than 10 years.

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