"Gang of Six" presents debt paradigm shift to Senate

'Back to black' deal to eliminate $3.5 to $4.5 trillion in debt within 10 years

BULLETIN: THE DOW-JONES AVERAGE rose a little more than 200 points as the day closed on the New York Stock Exchange when news of the gang's deal reached traders' ears.

Idaho Senator Mike Crapo and his fellow "Gang of Six" members stood before a room of 50 U.S. Senators this morning on Capitol Hill. In front of them was the rough draft of a document called "Back to Black." Inside were the first findings of the bipartisan "gang," tasked with crafting a landmark comprehensive debt reduction bill.

"We made significant progress this morning," Crapo told Citydesk. "In fact, we just met and gave them our plan, which is so close to finalization that we thought we ought to start sharing it. The response was very positive."

Crapo said the package, which could eliminate between $3.5 trillion-$4.5 trillion of the national debt over 10 years, includes entitlement reform, major cuts in spending and a dramatic reform of the tax code.


"It puts everything on the table in what I consider to be a major paradigm shift in American fiscal policy," Crapo said.

Crapo said the intention of the plan was not to be an immediate solution to the looming debt ceiling battle (facing an Aug. 2 deadline) but conceded that the pieces of the bill could be part of the short-term dilemma.

"Either way, it's presented as a much broader solution to the overall debt crisis," he said.

With the tarantella d'Tarantino...