Looking pretty clean? Roll Call has more details on framework for a deal

[kpete]

Roll Call has details:

Funds the government to 1-15-14, the date Dems wanted so to negotiate on the next round of sequester. Lifts debt ceiling to 2-15-14. R's get income verification for ACA. Dems get a rollback of reinsurance tax. No medical device tax repeal.



Updated 7:27 p.m. | Senate leaders appeared to be closing in on a framework for a deal to avert a default on the nation’s debt on Monday afternoon.

The emerging plan would reopen the government until Jan. 15, 2014, and extend the debt limit into February — but it would not address the medical device tax, which many Republicans and Democrats would like to repeal.

A source familiar with the negotiations explained that Majority Leader Harry Reid pushed to get the repeal of the tax removed from the negotiations. The Nevada Democrat has been a vocal opponent of repealing the excise tax, at one point calling the idea “stupid” at a news conference.


The White House also pushed back against including a medical device tax rollback in the deal.

It appeared likely that the deal would punt the question of turning off automatic spending cuts, known as the sequester, to another round of budget talks, with a deadline of Dec. 15. But under one proposal, if the sequester came into effect there would be increased flexibility to deal with it.

the rest, (still processing all of this myself):
http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/senate-debt-limit-framework-emerges-medical-device-tax-off-table/

[questionseverything]

1. what is the reinsurance tax?

i do not like the short term nature because instability is bad for the economy but it is much better than plunging to the abyss

[dkf]

8. Here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023849013

[starroute]

11. It's something the labor unions have complained about

This doesn't completely clarify it, but it gives a general idea of the issues:

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/328459-labor-gets-obamacare-olive-branch-

The bargain under negotiation would make small adjustments to the healthcare law, including delaying the law's reinsurance fee for one year. The three-year tax is meant to generate revenue that will stabilize premiums on the individual market as sick patients enter the risk pool.

The tax applies to all group health plans, but unions argue it will raise their healthcare costs while providing them no benefit. ...

The White House recently denied labor's top priority on ObamaCare, ruling that union health plans are not eligible for the new subsidies because they are already helped by the tax code.

Democrats could be pushing to delay the reinsurance fee for one year as an olive branch after that apparent slight, though it could also create trouble for insurers on the marketplaces.

[Keefer]

2. The house

Will never pass it.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

3. Yeah. That is my question. But Senate still has to pass, right?

[CreekDog]

4. they might. they passed the fiscal cliff legislation.

[dkf]

9. Which gave them bush tax rates. They got a lot.

[CoffeeCat]

7. That is the issue...

...and I wish I knew how Bohner and the House will handle this.

I am still amazed that those buffoons would actually consider default. This would be unprecedented. The US credit rating was downgraded during the threat of default, the last time we went down this road, correct? If we go over the cliff, the damage would be untold, and irreversible in the short term.

I can't being myself to believe that Bohner would be so fucking stupid.

[dkf]

10. S&P has said it wasn't due to debt ceiling but due to dysfunction in general and future spending.

The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan
that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of
what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's
medium-term debt dynamics.

More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness,
stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political
institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic
challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a
negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011.

Since then, we have changed our view of the difficulties in bridging the
gulf between the political parties over fiscal policy, which makes us
pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the Administration to be
able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal
consolidation plan that stabilizes the government's debt dynamics any
time soon.

http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245316529563

[gopiscrap]

5. will it pass

[libdem4life]

6. At least it gets us through the holidays. Late December haggling/hostage taking now gone.