Elmendorf on Obama budget framework: “We don’t estimate speeches.”

You can get more background on the exchange by reading Philip Klein‘s article at the Washington Examiner.

So, what I come away from Elmendorf’s statement with is that you actually have to have something with some substance to it to be able to estimate it.

Meanwhile, Rep. Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, is calling Obama out on his refusal to directly inject himself in the debt ceiling negotiations.

Obama has kept himself far away from the debt ceiling negotiations, as part of a strategy intended to focus the public’s anger on Republican negotiators, say GOP legislators and allies.

The strategy is largely working, in part because reporters aren’t pressing the White House or focusing on the Democrats’ political dilemmas.

On June 21, for example, reporters at the White House’s daily press conference didn’t ask one question about the debt ceiling negotiations. The day before, White House spokesman Jay Carney fended off a few questions with generalities and repeated mentions of Vice President Joe Biden, who is attending the closed-door negotiating sessions in lieu of the president.

Impasse? Well, at least for now, the GOP representatives have pulled out of the talks with Biden.  Maybe it’s time for a plan to cut, cap and balance the budget? A number of conservative groups and lawmakers are officially revving up the Cut Cap Balance Pledge.

After days of hype, 47 conservative organizations and more than 20 members of Congress officially announced their support for the “Cut, Cap, Balance Pledge” during a press conference Wednesday afternoon on Capitol Hill. It was a shining moment in the spotlight for the conservative movement…

…All emphasized the need to act now to the shape country’s fiscal path in a way that will ensure a balanced budget and fiscal order. Colin Hanna, President of the group LetFreedomRing pushed that point, saying “This is beyond partisanship; this is beyond ideology. This is truly about survival.”

“Full-speed ahead,” as Sarah Saunders notes. That plan sounds a whole lot more likely to shrink the national debt than some others we’ve heard. But, as Erick Erickson over at Red State notes, there is a nugget too many people overlook.

The Gang of Six, now down to five, is trying to craft a deficit-slashing plan along the lines of the 10-year, $4 trillion package that Obama’s deficit commission put together last year. Basically, that plan called for $1 in higher taxes in exchange for every $3 in cuts to government spending and benefit programs. The nation’s $14.3 trillion debt would continue to grow, but at a much slower pace.

Some of those plans are the definition of insanity, like Senate Democrats calling for new ecomonic stimulus spending in deficit reduction talks.

Democrats in the Senate on Wednesday called on Vice President Joe Biden to include new economic stimulus spending in deficit-reduction talks as a way of lowering the 9.1 percent jobless rate that is hobbling the economic recovery.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made the proposal to the White House, Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Democratic senator, told reporters.

“The Republicans are fixating on the budget deficit and it’s a serious problem,” Durbin said.

But citing the conclusions of a presidential deficit-cutting commission that he served on last year, Durbin added, “Get the recovery right before you get in this deficit cutting mode … get people back to work. Let’s start moving in that direction.”

As Doug Powers puts it, “the Captain(s) of the Titanic are talking about taking one more run at the iceberg before the ship goes under.”  On a brighter note, at least Dick thinks the budget deficit is a “serious problem.” Now, if only he could realize the even bigger problem.

The Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday that the nation probably will owe outside creditors more than the size of the entire economy in 10 years.

The forecast — a public debt equal to 101% of the economy in 2021, and rising to 187% by 2035 unless dramatic changes are made — should be a warning to President Obama, Congress and Vice President Biden’s band of bipartisan negotiators meeting daily to devise just a short-term fix.

Did you note that “should be a warning?” It should but it’s not. What Biden, Durbin, Obama and their cohorts need to get is a fiscal clue. Instead, they’re acting like junkies wanting that one last stimulus fix, before it puts their lights out permanently with unsustainable debt. Some may even be employing a little ghost-writing or, at least, passive voice on the left to mask Democrat failings on the economy and, perhaps, a little single-sentence sampling in poll questions. Will the Democrats destroy us all with their continued tactics?

In the meantime, they will just continue to insinuate that Republicans are sabotaging the economy. Why “shy away” from their standard tactics now? D.C. productivity at its best.

The rest of us will take a break from As D.C. Turns to deal with the real world fallout from negotiations and other “unexpected” consequences. Democrats, well, they’re mad because they can’t get what they want and, as Ace of Spades puts it, “what they always will want…tax increases.”  Luckily, there are some talking some sense in D.C. 

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