For all the whining and kooky crybaby antics from McCain and Lindsey Graham today, it’s still not clear whether we actually have a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. But Senate Republicans made one thing very clear today: their next caper will involve holding America hostage over the debt ceiling.

Two centrist Republican senators on Friday introduced a plan to reduce the growth of entitlement spending by nearly $1 trillion in exchange for an equal increase to the federal debt ceiling.

Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) called on Congress to focus on entitlement reform after it addresses the impending expiration of the Bush-era tax rates. They identified the expiration of the federal debt ceiling as an opportunity to address the costly growth of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.