(Image source: The New York Times)

BY: JIM FLINK

ANCHOR: AUSTIN KIM 

Guess you can put a cap -- on Cut, Cap and Balance.

The Senate rejected the House GOP proposal -- sending the debt-ceiling talks back to the drawing board.

Reid: “We’ve now demonstrated that the House Republican's 'Cut, Cap and Balance' is over. Done. It’s dead." (Video source: C-Span)

Sounds hopeless, right?
Maybe not.

The New York Times reports, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner are working on a backroom deal.

“Congressional and administration officials said that the two men, who had abandoned earlier talks toward a deal when leaks provoked Republicans’ protests, were closing in on a package calling for as much as $3 trillion in savings from substantial spending cuts and future revenue produced by a tax code overhaul." 

Now -- everyone’s unhappy.  Voters.  Republicans.  Democrats.
The Today Show has the backstory on what -- might -- be going down.

“Well, the Senate has moved up to today on a vote, a popular House plan, a Republican plan.  To get that out of the way, that’s expected to be dead.  And then Speaker Boehner can come out publicly with some kind of deal that he’s been working on with the President.  But that irked Senate Democrats who say they weren’t in on it.  They didn’t know the details.  They met with the President for about two hours last night." 

For his part, Speaker Boehner quickly moved to put the deal-making rumor to rest. On ABC News...

“I’m gonna say it one more time.  There was no agreement.  Possibly, probably never an agreement.  And frankly, not close to an agreement." 

A Washington Post blogger calls the whole charade -- more madness.  And says, both sides -- are playing with fire.

"...the president has assumed that tacking right would lead to cooperation from Republicans. It hasn’t worked before, and it won’t work now." 

But The Wall Street Journal notes -- in the midst of the chaos --  the President continues to seize some political capital.

“Mr. Obama’s public appearances attempt to do two things: pressure lawmakers to compromise and let him say, come election time, that he wanted to reduce federal deficits more than congressional Republicans."

TIME’s Swampland thinks -- somehow -- in the midst of a lose-lose proposition, the president could win. Even if, in the short term, he loses.

“Caught between two partisan fringes, not worried about next year’s election, but rather focused on doing the hard work that career politicians refuse to do: Solving the problems of the American People. Or at least that’s what he would like you to think. In fact, he is perfectly positioning himself for his own reelection." 

For the record, it’s 11 days and counting -- before a default on the debt ceiling.
 

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Transcript by Newsy.