House Speaker John A. Boehner threw down the gauntlet at an Economic Club of New York dinner tonight, calling for trillions of dollars in federal budget cuts in exchange for House Republican votes to raise the debt limit.

Tonight’s statement vastly ups the ante on the upcoming debt ceiling vote. What was beginning to be seen as a non-issue, now looks like a showdown again. It will be a game of chicken with massive stakes.  My money is on the Ohio congressman not to flinch.

I was at the dinner where he made his remarks tonight and I almost missed the news. Boehner doesn’t do hyperbole, and his words came across as a simple matter of fact, which would worry me if I were  Messrs. Reid and Obama. It will be a hot May in Washington after all.