Senate Reveals $3.7 Trillion Debt Plan

The Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Six” group, long though to be dead, came back on Tuesday with a debt plan to reduce the deficit by $3.7 trillion—Washington’s best shot, perhaps, at a compromise before the debt-ceiling clock runs out on Aug. 2. While the Senate package—which overhauls entitlements and reforms the tax code—does not increase the debt ceiling in its current form, some senators say they could add it to the package. The proposal is based on recommendations from the White House’s deficit-reduction commission in December. The six senators who wrote it include Democrats Mark Warner, Kent Conrad, and Dick Durbin; and Republicans Saxby Chambliss, Tom Coburn, and Mike Crapo.