reports now indicate that congress is considering only two plans to raise the debt ceiling this week. one, a hopeless stunt that everyone knows is hopeless, the other, a last resort plan in which each side can claim some sort of victory. today, the president issued a rare obama veto threat against the stunt house republicans are calling the cut, cap, and balance act of 2011. it would cut fiscal 2012 spending by $111 billion, cap future federal spending at a fixed percentage of gdp, require congress to pass a balanced budget amendment and send that amendment to the states for ratification before granting the president authority to raise the debt ceiling to $2.4 trillion.