Any budget deal must:
1. Ask the wealthy to pay more of their fair share through a return to at least Clinton era tax rates on income, dividends, capital gains, and estates for the top 2%.
2. Taking the debt ceiling off the table for at least two years.
3. No cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits (finding actual cost savings in Medicare would be acceptable if done correctly)
4. Include short term stimulus, including infrastructure investments, aid to state and local governments, and extending unemployment benefits for the 9 million people who would lose them in 2013.
5. Focus any cuts on reducing corporate subsidies, paring back military spending, and reducing health care costs in ways that make the system more efficient rather than by cutting benefits.