But, as we learned in the case of the ACA, you don't go into negotiations saying, "I was hoping for $3.5T but I'm willing to settle for $1.5T." Because that becomes the starting point for negotiations, not the $3.5T. Just as one doesn't go into a negotiation for a car or home by saying, "I want to pay 25% under the sticker price but I'm willing to pay the sticker price."

It's been so long since any of us have seen ANY negotiation on the Hill worth talking about (the ACA was the last one), we've all, including the media, forgotten how it goes and get all verklempt when our side doesn't get what we want on the first pass. And then we start using words like "death spiral" and "bloodbath"'.

I think we'll come to something in the middle.