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U.S. President Barack Obama is endorsing a deficit reduction plan crafted by a bipartisan group, equally weighted between six Republicans and Democrats.\u00a0 The group, super creatively known as “The Gang of Six,” has announced a $3.7 trillion plan whose machinations would unfold over the course of a decade.<\/span><\/p>\n Most politicos feel that the plan has a zero chance of passing intact.\u00a0 This is because the plan contains language that has changes intended for the tax code.\u00a0 And of course, the Tea Party has become ironically, the unintentional defender of the Internal Revenue Service (that’s the U.S. tax collector for my foreign readers).<\/span><\/p>\n Even if the plan were the most beloved piece of legislation ever crafted – like an across the board Congressional pay raise – the language of the bill would have to be drafted.\u00a0 Again, politicos have warned that this will be nearly impossible to do before the 2 August, 2011 “raise the debt limit or else” deadline.<\/span><\/p>\n However, the Gang of Six is not the only group of brains working toward a solution.\u00a0 You might have heard that in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday that a conservative budget balancing plan passed.\u00a0 Senate Democrats have already said that they will not pass a version of this bill.\u00a0 Not only that, but also Obama has said that he would veto this plan.<\/span><\/p>\n In other words, regardless of details, we are far from a specific deficit reduction plan.\u00a0 Hence the “?” at the end of this post’s title.\u00a0 However, as I said recently, the details of a plan are not the important part of any deal.\u00a0 No, just that a deal passes is the important part.\u00a0 Where are we on that?<\/span><\/p>\n It looks very likely to me that a deal will be reached before the 2 August, 2011 deadline.\u00a0 It is also very likely that Congress can craft a deal that includes a debt ceiling rise vote to take place before the final language of a deficit reduction deal is agreed to.<\/span><\/p>\n