Latest proposal to save the country from disaster - for a time

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, convinced that a bipartisan budget package is out of reach, suggests a plan that would allow President Obama to increase the debt ceiling unilaterally. From the NYT:

Mr. McConnell's proposal would give Mr. Obama sweeping power to increase the government's borrowing authority, in increments, by up to $2.4 trillion -- enough, it is estimated, to cover federal obligations through next year -- only if Mr. Obama specified spending cuts of equal amounts. But Congress would not have to approve the spending cuts prior to the debt-limit increase.

McConnell isn't suggesting this because he has suddenly become sympatico with the president. On the contrary - he said in a Senate speech that "as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is probably unattainable." Of course, there's no certainty that House Republicans will go along with this stop-gap plan. Meanwhile, Obama turned up the temperature a touch more by telling CBS that he couldn't guarantee that the government could pay benefits to Social Security recipients, veterans and the disabled if Congress does not increase the federal debt limit. And we're worried about the 405 being closed a couple of days?