But now, one more thing has come to my attention from Jay Newton-Small in her article titled Five Things for Liberals to Like in the Debt Ceiling Deal. Her first point:
The 2012 budget: At one point in the negotiations, the 2012 budget was to be slashed by $36 billion. The final number of cuts: just $7 billion. And just to ensure we don’t have another bruising government shutdown fight over cuts in September, the deal deems and passes the 2012 budget. Yes, that’s right, the old Gephardt Rule or Slaughter Solution, is back. What’s deem and pass? It’s a legislative trick that essentially means that Congress will consider the budget passed without ever actually having to vote on it.
This is HUGE! It takes away the one last chance for a hostage situation before the 2012 election when we can vote the lunatics out.
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