Here's What A 'Deal' In Washington Could Ultimately Look Like

The debt ceiling will be hit on October 17.

That might seem soon, but in politics it's ages away. There are a million stunts to pull yet. Lots of non-starters.

But let's say there is ultimately a deal in some way to get passed this, what's something both sides might agree on?

Greg Valliere at Potomac Research Group breaks it down:

SO . . . IF WE COULD PLAY GOD FOR A DAY here's what a deal would look like: an immediate end of the shut-down; a $1 trillion debt ceiling increase; the easing or abolition of the sequester; and no major changes to Obamacare. That's what the Democrats would get. For the Republicans: major entitlement reforms, including a change in the Social Security COLA; approval of the Keystone pipeline; a binding commitment to tax reform; and perhaps abolition of the device tax (that would cost $30 billion over ten years and might be paid for by cracking down on some tax breaks like carried interest).

Valliere goes onto note that we're nowhere even close to any of this. And the left and right wings of both parties would have a conniption.

But theoretically, that's a plausible agreement.

Bigger picture, this gets at the difference between 2013 and 2011. In 2011, the two sides were gulfs apart, but they were actively working on closing that gap for months.

In 2013, the sides aren't that far apart, but there's zero effort being made to close the gap.