Yesterday I inaccurately suggested that John Boehner Economic Club of New York speech included demands much larger spending cuts than Republicans had previously sought. Now it’s clear that when he hinted at cuts of roughly $2 trillion, the timeline for the cuts would be a 10-year budget period, bringing them in line with proposals from the president and the deficit commission.
In other words, Boehner isn’t demanding anything new or bigger. He’s just reasserting that the plan for tackling the ongoing deficits, whatever that plan might be, should be tied to the debt ceiling increase. While that should increase the leverage Republicans have for securing spending cuts, it could also lead to more uncertainty in financial markets about the debt ceiling.
