Obama announces debt ceiling plan deal with GOP

Washington - In a press briefing Sunday night, President Barack Obama said that while it was not the deal he wanted, a compromise debt hike plan he reached with Republican Congressional leadership at about 9 p.m. will “allow us to avoid default and end the crisis Washington imposed on the rest of America.”

A vote could come as soon as Sunday night or early Monday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tipped off their hands as early as Saturday as to exactly how the arrangement would be made in speeches delivered in the well of the Senate. Following a series of test votes that were masquerading as "quorum calls," the two let the American people know the status of negotiations, which were then stymied by Tea Party reluctance to even discuss new sources of revenue and the Administration's total opposition to cutting entitlements.

According to a summary of the bill provided by Speaker of the House John Boehner’s office, the plan immediately cuts discretionary spending by $917 billion over ten years, and raises the debt ceiling by $900 billion. There are no tax hikes included.

The debt limit increase is expected to last until February. Like the Boehner plan that was tabled in the Senate on Friday, the current plan requires a vote on a balanced budget amendment after October 1, but before the end of the year.

In February 2012, the president can request another debt limit increase of $1.5 trillion, if either a newly created Joint Committee authorizes spending cuts greater than the hike, or a budget amendment has been passed by the states.