White House: Wait and See on Deficit Proposals

Deputy press secretary Burton sends out statement insisting early draft is "only a step in the process towards coming up with a set of recommendations," Obama "looks forward to reviewing their final product early next month."

"Painful" proposal includes reform in pesky areas like healthcare, defense and Social Security, so political warfare is anticipated.

Statement on the Initial Bowles-Simpson Bipartisan Fiscal Commission Proposal

“The President will wait until the bipartisan fiscal commission finishes its work before commenting. He respects the challenging task that the Co-Chairs and the Commissioners are undertaking and wants to give them space to work on it. These ideas, however, are only a step in the process towards coming up with a set of recommendations and the President looks forward to reviewing their final product early next month,” said White House spokesperson, Bill Burton.