Free Republic

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), a top choice among Republicans for a deficit-cutting super-committee formed last week, on Sunday sought to tamp down expectations for the panel. “I don’t think a grand bargain is going to come out of this,” Mr. Ryan said on Fox News Sunday. He said that any deal for more than the $1.5 trillion in deficit-reduction over 10 years that the committee is charged with finding would depend on whether Democrats were willing to agree to overhaul entitlement programs. “I don’t see any agreement from the other side getting anywhere close to doing...

A leader of a centrist group of House Democrats on Sunday said most of the group’s members are likely support an emerging deal to raise the country's $14.29 trillion debt ceiling and cut deficits by up to $2.4 trillion over the next decade. First, the debt ceiling deal that’s just been tentatively agreed needs to pass the Senate and the House. Then, Republican and Democratic leaders will have to deal with the politically-charged question of who they appoint to the super committee of lawmakers who will decide what more spending to cut, or revenues to raise, to narrow the budget...