WALL STREET JOURNAL: Shrinking near-term federal deficits, slowing health-care cost increases and partisan gridlock have all but wiped out the likelihood for a deal this year to reduce long-term U.S. deficits, perhaps delaying a compromise until after the 2014 midterm elections, White House officials and congressional lawmakers said.
In their public statements, Obama administration officials say a grand bargain is still a possibility. “The president remains committed to working to see if there’s a caucus of common sense willing to reach a bipartisan compromise,” said Amy Brundage, a White House spokeswoman.
But in private, they are far more pessimistic. One White House official said there has been “openness from serious-minded Republican senators” toward a “bigger budget deal.” Yet, he said, “there doesn’t seem to be the real political will to do it.”… (more)
