Real News': Deal Made Before Fiscal Cliff, Debt Fight Still Ahead

Congress and the White House managed to avert the brunt of the Fiscal Cliff for the moment thanks to a last minute deal, but many questions still remain about tax reform, spending and the debt ceiling. Despite the last minute deal, the Treasury Department will no longer be able to cover the nation's debts and could begin defaulting on government loans by late February or early March if Congress does not raise its borrowing limit.

Legislators have now entered the next round of debt talks as Republicans say they will only raise the limit if it comes with entitlement reform, and the president says he won't consider spending cuts if the government won't follow through on the commitments they have already made. Other Democrats say they want to look for additional revenues--$1 trillion--to balance GOP calls to slash mandatory spending.

Given these differences and criticisms about the substance in last week's deal, many observers predict that the nation could see another debt showdown all over again in just a few months.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner's description in the Wall Street Journal Monday of details during the final negotiations with the president last week have not eased concerns about the distance between each side moving forward. According to Boehner, President Obama insisted throughout the talks that Washington does not have a spending problem--despite being the Capitol of a country $16.4 trillion in debt.

On "Real News" Monday Will Cain and the panel discussed the details of last week's Fiscal Cliff deal, and what type of political ordeal we are in store for in the weeks ahead.