Schumer: Deal Not Yet Final

Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday “there’s no final agreement” on a debt-ceiling deal, with Democrats and Republicans still discussing the trigger mechanism that would lead to automatic cuts if there is no agreement on specifics, Politico reports.
 

“There is no final agreement,” Schumer told Gloria Borger on CNN's “State of the Union.” “It’s . . . premature to talk about any specifics,” adding “If there’s a word that would be right here that would sum up the mood, it would be relief . . . default is far less of a possibility now than it was a day ago.”
 

Schumer stressed it will be hard to sell the deal to congressional Democrats and the broader Democratic base, but that they did secure one major victory, with the agreement containing no entitlement cuts, particularly to Medicare.

He said the deal should include an automatic debt ceiling extension through the end of 2012, which is very important to President Obama and us, because we would risk default if we kicked the can down the road for the next couple of months.”