Reid vs. Boehner: Dueling debt deals, a week before deadline

Senate and House leaders Monday unveiled starkly opposing plans to raise the country’s debt limit. With only a week left before the Aug. 2 deadline — when the government will run out of money to pay its bills — neither Republican House Speaker John Boehner’s proposal nor Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s appeared on the road to victory in their respective chambers. The White House said yesterday that it supports Reid’s plan. Mayor Michael Bloomberg also waded into the fray Monday, saying: “There will be no political gains from a prolonged crisis — no one will win. Voters will blame all the incumbents.”

Reid’s Plan

• Provides $2.7 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, mostly from domestic programs and expected troop drawdowns overseas.
• Would boost the country’s debt limit by $2.4 trillion through 2012.

Boehner’s Plan

• Calls for deficit reduction of $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
• Would allow a
• short-term $1 trillion hike to the government’s borrowing limit, which would last only a few months.
• A future $1.6 trillion rise in the debt limit would be contingent on approval of another $1.8 trillion in cuts.