House Republicans keep killing federal unemployment benefits because they cost taxpayer money. But they're now moving forward on six business-oriented tax credits that would cost far more than unemployment insurance. Why? "Growth..is the sure way to reduce deficits," says Eric Cantor.

Word has been trickling in from a variety of sources all day about the basic outline of a deficit-reduction deal that President Obama and Speaker John Boehner are nearing. While both sides are denying it in their preferred arenas — the White House through its spokesperson at a press conference, John Boehner with a telephone call to Rush Limbaugh — it still seems like we've got our hands on the latest trial balloon! Summary: It sucks for Democrats.

Now here's a good headline for America: "Cantor Signals Flexibility On Tax Loopholes." Does this mean that during tomorrow's White House debt ceiling meeting, the House Majority Leader may in fact consider modest revenue increases as part of any deficit-reduction package? Finally? No, not really.

The White House has maintained its unwavering promise that the President won't sign any major deficit reduction deal without substantial revenue increases. Much of this could come through closing tax loopholes and canceling ending major subsidies, but obviously the cornerstone of the White House's call for more revenues is to return the highest two income tax bracket rates to their Clinton-era levels. But yet again, it's starting to sound like that's being put on hold.

The framework for deficit reduction President Obama will lay out Wednesday is a mixed bag for members of his party. It borrows heavily in some areas from the conservative-leaning Bowles-Simpson recommendation, but commits elsewhere to enhancing the cost-cutting programs in the health care law and rejects Republican proposals to privatize entitlements, or maintain or reduce the tax burden on the upper class.

The White House released its big budget proposal today for fiscal year 2012, which begins in October. There's been talk about major cuts the administration would be making, and this proposal would supposedly cut $1.1 trillion in deficits over the next ten years. It mostly accomplishes that through a five-year spending cap on non-defense discretionary funding, an area that only accounts for 12% of the budget anyway and isn't related to America's long-term debt problems. But it may make President Obama seem tough to Washington Post columnists, so it must be done!

The Congressional Budget Office finds that repealing health care reform would add $230 billion to budget deficits over the next decade.

The president's creepy debt-reduction commission failed to win enough support for its final report, so now it won't face a vote in Congress. Oh well. Fuck the debt! Spend more time on that 10% unemployment rate we've had for years.

Barack Obama has negotiated away one of his better bargaining chips — a two-year freeze on all civilian federal salaries — in exchange for... well, nothing. This will save $60 billion over the next decade, while Barack Obama remains despised.

President Obama's strange deficit commission has released a draft of its recommendations a couple of weeks before deadline! It mostly suggests cutting future entitlement spending and reducing or eliminating various tax breaks. The reaction from lawmakers so far? Very noncommittal.

Ex-Senator Alan Simpson is a co-chair of Barack Obama's deficit-reduction commission, and many liberals fear that he'll take a wrecking ball to Social Security. And now that a grumpy, comical email rant of Simpson's has leaked, liberals are downright livid.

It's only Monday, but Senate Republicans have already found a new part of the Constitution they want to amend. Sen. Jim DeMint and others plan to introduce a balanced budget amendment in September, just to wow their base before November.