Coalition revolts against Speaker's plan for debt crisis

Washington - Cut Cap and Balance Coalition members denounced a plan by House Speaker John Boehner to postpone spending cuts while at the same time raising the national debt ceiling.

The key difference between the coalition's plan and the Speaker's is that the Cut, Cap and Balance Budget Pledge signed by 39 House members and 12 Senators calls for $111 billion in federal spending cuts during fiscal year 2012. Mr. Boehner's plan calls for first year cuts of only $7 billion during the first year of the plan.

According to former Congressman Ernest Istook of the Heritage Foundation, the sum of $6 billion is less than one day of federal spending, well short of the “substantial” standard imposed under the Cut, Cap and Balance plan.