Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, released a statement last night on just how devastating Speaker John Boehner’s proposed deficit-reduction plan would be for the future of the country.

In particular, Greenstein characterizes the plan’s attack on programs for low- and moderate-income families and retirees as “class warfare.”

The entire statement is well worth reading, but here are the key points worth noting:

The Boehner plan would force policymakers to choose among cutting the incomes and health benefits of ordinary retirees, repealing the guts of health reform and leaving an estimated 34 million more Americans uninsured, and savaging the safety net for the poor.

It would do so even as it shielded all tax breaks, including the many lucrative tax breaks for the wealthiest and most powerful individuals and corporations.

NC Public Radio reported this morning that both of North Carolina’s US senators have come out publicly in support of the bipartisan “Gang of Six” deficit-reduction plan.

Although the plan leaves much to be desired and shares many flaws with the Bowles-Simpson framework it’s meant to implement, it does succeed in taking a significantly more balanced and reasonable approach to the nation’s long-term deficit than the radical, dangerous and ill-conceived “cut, cap, and balance” plan passed in the US House earlier this week (with the support of eight of North Carolina’s thirteen members of congress – Reps. Shuler & McIntyre among five Dems nationally to vote yes, Rep. Jones among nine GOPers nationally to vote no).

It remains to be seen whether enough members of the House would be willing to support the Gang of Six deal in order to avert a disastrous default on the nation’s debt, but the substantial bipartisan support in the Senate suggests that the tide may be turning in favor of a large-scale deal on the debt ceiling that incorporates a balanced approach.