Quick summary from Ezra Klein’s Wonkbook:
-$2.1-$2.5 trillion increase in debt ceiling, lasting until 2013.
-$1 trillion in cuts in defense and domestic discretionary spending over ten years.
-Bipartisan Joint Committee of Congress established to finalize $1.5 trillion in further cuts by November, with Congress required to vote on recommendations.
-If committee fails, automatic cuts to defense, domestic discretionary spending, and Medicare take effect in 2013.
-Required Congressional vote on Balanced Budget Amendment between October and the end of the year.
I’ve been tweeting questions as they occur to me. So far today they are:
- The doc fix expiration at the end of 2011 is the next deadline after the debt-deal stuffed Thanksgiving turkey. How do the debt deal and the doc fix interact?
- How is the debt-reduction charged “Bipartisan Joint Committee of Congress” different from or similar to the IPAB in structure, governance, etc.? Is it close enough to stop beating on IPAB?
