So if the Super Catfood commission agrees on a bill

[Hatchling]

And it gets sent to Congress and voted down, will the triggers happen anyway?

Does this bill FORCE a "yes" vote on the bill supposedly created in November?

[still_one]

1. My understanding is yes, that is why so many at DU are upset about it /nt

[snappyturtle]

3. Yes, I'm upset....I can't agree to the powers of the commission.. why bother with a bill?

They might as well just do what they want to do. I think they will. Upset? Ouutraged is more accurate.

[daa]

2. Plus boner already says he is appointing NO TAX INCREASE

members.

[snappyturtle]

4. Really? We are so screwed. It wouldn't bother me so much if we had been

outmaneuvered by intelligence but we all know that isn't the case.

[Recursion]

6. Fine -- the tax cuts die on their own without a specific extension of them (nt)

[Recursion]

5. There's two stages of trigger enforcement

If the commission can't reach a deal, the entire trigger regime sets in (massive cuts to the Pentagon, smaller cuts to Medicare providers, across-the-board discretionary non-defense cuts).

If the commission's deal is less than 1.5 trillion, the regime activates to make up the difference (starting with defense cuts).

If the deal passes the committee but is voted down in Congress, a smaller but substantially similar regime of cuts set in.

A parallel but largely similar "trigger" is in place for taxes: if nothing happens by December of next year, all the Bush tax cuts go away. This basically reverses the leverage you saw on the debt ceiling: Republicans are genuinely convinced it would destroy the US -- or even world -- economy and Democrats simply aren't that worried.

[Hatchling]

7. Thank you that makes sense