[AK47rulz]

LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,6975653.story

Obama and Boehner have held a pair of secret meetings at the White House, sessions coming after their golf outing last month. Even key party leaders were unaware of the most recent meeting, which was held Sunday.

The president and House speaker, an Ohio Republican, are seeking a deal on cutting federal deficits to win congressional approval for an increase in the nation's debt limit. Failure to increase the government's borrowing limit by Aug. 2 could trigger a financial crisis, experts warn.

The White House wants a deal before that and favors a larger package of $4 trillion in spending cuts and new revenue, which budget hawks say is needed to begin to reduce the nation's record deficits and debt.

Both the president and the House speaker have much to gain politically if they can forge a history-making agreement, motives not always shared by many lawmakers. Such a broad deal would require political pain on all sides, putting lawmakers up for reelection next year in difficult circumstances.

Boehner first met secretly with Obama at the White House two weeks ago, shortly after their June 18 golf outing. The White House has calculated that Boehner's GOP-controlled House is where any deal must pass, as the Senate will rely primarily on votes from the Democratic majority to pass the debt ceiling increase.

[Innoloinarp]

Obama is reportedly bringing major concessions on Medicare and Social Security to the table in return for a major tax concession on Boehner's part.

TPM: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archive...more?ref=fpblg

There have been two late, but perhaps Earth-moving developments tonight in the debt fight that continues to dominate national politics. At a minimum, we're watching the White House float the mother of all trial balloons. Alternatively, we're seeing the first signs that the groundwork's been laid, behind the scenes, for a huge tax and spending deal that includes big revenue raisers and significantly larger entitlement cuts.

As detailed here, in an article by Lori Montgomery, Obama administration officials say they've prepared a major, $4 trillion deficit reduction package ,to lay out before Republican and Democratic leaders at the White House tomorrow. This would include significant, unspecified cuts to entitlement spending, but also real new tax revenues -- including possibly a partial expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

So far that sounds like the White House negotiating through the press, calling John Boehner and Mitch McConnell's big bluff in the Washington Post. But then check this out:

The president's renewed efforts follow what knowledgeable officials said was an overture from Mr. Boehner, who met secretly with Mr. Obama last weekend, to consider as much as $1 trillion in unspecified new revenues as part of an overhaul of tax laws in exchange for an agreement that made substantial spending cuts, including in such social programs as Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security -- programs that had been off the table.

If Boehner's said he'll accept real new tax revenues -- eliminating expenditures, or raising rates, or a combination of the two, and not just selling off federal property and calling it "new revenue" -- then we could be looking at an actual grand bargain. The kind of once-in-a-decade development that will shake Washington to its foundation, raise howls from advocacy groups across the political spectrum, and, of course, mean real, difficult changes to peoples' lives. We'll bring you much more tomorrow.

[houkbsdov]

Obama is reportedly bringing major concessions on Medicare and Social Security to the table in return for a major tax concession on Boehner's part.

I have no clue why Pres. Obama is choosing to punch the hippy at this stage of the game, but it's not going over very well in any corner of the Democratic Party. Perhaps he has some strategy in mind that escapes me, but I honestly see no political or substantive value here.