House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have released the six names of the "Super-Committee" that will work on coming up with mutually agreed upon budget cuts to the tune of $1.5 Trillion dollars over the next decade.
From the House, Dave Camp (R-MI), Fred Upton (R-MI) and Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) have been named along with Jon Kyl of Arizona, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio from the Senate.
All have signed Grover Norquists anti tax pledge which reads:
Taxpayer Protection Pledge
I, _____, pledge to the taxpayers of the (____ district of the) state of ______ and to the American people that I will: ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.
So much for bipartisanship and compromise...Somehow I knew Olympia Snowe wasn't going to be chosen...
Stand by Pentagon officials for your marching orders in several weeks...
Sources:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61028.html
http://s3.amazonaws.com/atrfiles/files/files/070711-federalpledgesigners.pdf
So we start condemning before they talk? We do need to reduce spending.
ReplyDeleteCondemning is a pretty harsh word to toss around. I'm merely anticipating, based on the publicly stated positions on any tax increases, that we're likely heading towards an impasse, thus-cuts to defense spending.
ReplyDeleteIf Boehner/McConnell had assigned 1-2 "moderates" versus 6 hardline anti-tax guys, I would've been more encouraged for some sense of compromise being possible. They didn't, so I'm not...
I agree totally with a need for dramatic spending cuts, but like most economists, feel new revenues should be part of the overall solution.
Don't look for a 7-5, or 8-4 vote on the super committee. It is highly unlikely that one or two members will dare to cross party lines on a final vote.
ReplyDeleteLarry