Giles Whittell writes for The Australian: “The deal on debt and cuts… will lift the threat of the US defaulting on its national debt, tide the federal government over until after the presidential election and make a down-payment on the gigantic task of deficit reduction. ‘It's a wonderful step in the right direction,’ says Grover Norquist, of Americans for Tax Reform. ‘It's much better than anything we've been doing for the last 20 years.’ Norquist’s triumphant tone is significant: a pledge to fight new taxes, promoted by his organization and signed by almost every house Republican, has helped to define the past month's rancorous debate. He claims the deal before congress will define future debate: ‘We will never again walk into a budget deal with taxes on the table. Congress will never again raise the debt ceiling without cutting spending by the same amount that the debt ceiling goes up.’”