Super Committee Braces For Failure, Preps For Fallout

Democrats and Republicans are gearing up for a political showdown following the seemingly inevitable collapse of super committee negotiations.

Though the 12-member panel technically has until Wednesday to reach an agreement on a deficit-reduction package, a potential deal must first be reviewed by the Congressional Budget Office and be made available to the committee for two days prior to a vote, making Monday the effective deadline.

Democratic and Republican members of the super committee took to the airwaves over the weekend to prepare the nation and Congress with an approaching truth; the bipartisan, bicameral unit has failed to reach an agreement.

“From the Democratic side, it was the same thing. Raise taxes, pass the presidnet’s jobs bill, no entitlement reform,” said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) on NBC’s “Meet the Press. “On the Republican side, you had the one true breakthrough and that was this new concept of tax reform which could generate revenue from upper brackets.”

Democratic Sen. Xavier Becerra (Calif.) countered on “Fox News Sunday,” arguing that the concession made by Republicans on revenues was of little significance.

“Remember, we have 1,400 multimillionaires in this country who didn’t pay a single bit of income taxes in 2009. Why should they escape participation when we’re akin seniors to help cover the costs of deficits… that the didn’t even cause?” he said.

Aides close to the negotiations admit that, as unlikely as it may be, a last minute deal could still make its way to the CBO before the end of the day.

“I’m at the table,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I want to solve this. I know Americans want us to solve this. I remain hopeful that someone on the other side will say, this is too important to fail.”

Despite the potential for a last ditch effort to reach an agreement, partisan finger pointing has already begun within the 12-member panel as Democrats blame Republicans for digging their heels in the ground on taxes and Republicans have charged Democrats with being unwilling to put entitlements on the table.

“On the other side, there was an insistence that we have a trillion-dollar tax increase [and] and unwillingness to cut any kind of spending at all unless there was a huge tax increase,” said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

If, in fact, the super committee does announce failure Monday, a series of automatic cuts would shed $1.2 trillion from the deficit over ten years which includes a big chunk from defense spending. Republicans will attempt to alter the required cuts so as to lessen the impact on the nation’s defense system, but according to reports, Democrats will block this move unless the GOP allows the Bush-era tax cuts to expire for the wealthiest Americans.

Senate GOP Leadership Remains Intact

By Kyle LaFleur

As expected, there will be no shakeup at the top for Senate Republicans.

Following a decent showing in this month’s midterm elections, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was elected to continue serving as Senate Minority Leader. Speculation that McConnell would be challenged by Tea Party candidate Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) for the top Senate spot never materialized.

“Let me just say that I think that we have a great opportunity here to demonstrate that we are responding to what the American people clearly would like us for us to do,” said McConnell. “Cut the spending, cut the debt and get private sector job creation going again.”

Arizona Senator Jon Kyl will retain his title as Senate Minority Whip and Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander will keep his position as Republican Conference Chair.  

“In the last several months we have tried as best we could as leadership of the Republican Conference to reflect the will of the American people,” said Kyl. “And I think our colleagues have expressed confidence in the leadership team by returning all of us to the positions in which we previously served.”  

Meanwhile, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) was elected Tuesday to serve another term as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Cornyn helped the NRSC raise tens of millions of dollars for Republicans before the elections, in which the party picked up six seats in the Senate.

Arizona Lawmakers React to Court Decision

Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service

Arizona lawmakers from both parties released statements in response to Judge Susan Bolton’s decision to curtail some of the more controversial provisions in the Arizona immigration bill, SB 1070.

Republican senators John McCain and Jon Kyl released a joint statement condemning the court’s decision. 

“We are deeply disappointed in the court’s ruling and disagree with the court’s opinion that the Arizona’s law will unduly ‘burden’ the enforcement of federal immigration law,” the two senators said, “Instead of wasting taxpayer resources filing a lawsuit against Arizona…Obama Administration should have focused its efforts on working with Congress to provide the necessary resources to support the state”

Rep. Ed Pastor (D-4th), on the other hand, was satisfied with the decision. 

“I am pleased with U.S. District Court Judge Bolton’s decision to issue a preliminary injunction that will prevent the core provisions of Senate Bill 1070 from taking effect,” said Pastor in a statement. “The implementation of these provisions would have seriously interfered with federal immigration enforcement causing irreparable harm to the people of Arizona.”

Congressman Jeff Flake (R-6th) said that it was “frustrating to have the federal government actively preventing states from addressing immigration enforcement, when the federal government has shown that it’s unwilling to address immigration reform on its own,” and that it is “going to take comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level to successfully address this issue.”

Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-1st), while opposed to SB 1070, supported the attention that it brought to illegal immigration.  Kirkpatrick was rather pessimistic in her statement, concluding that, “there are no winners here – no matter what the courts ultimately decide, we will still have wasted millions of dollars and our borders will still not be secure.”

Congressman Harry Mitchell (D-5th) joined his collegues in harshly criticizing the Obama administration for suing Arizona, saying that “today’s ruling should not provide Washington any kind of excuse not to address the issue.  Arizonans are justifiably fed up with the federal government’s failure to secure the border and fix our broken immigration system, and are fed up with of all the political posturing and grandstanding on this issue.”

Hoyer Criticizes Kyl, Bush Tax Cuts

Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) soundly criticized remarks made by Minority Whip Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) regarding the continuation of the Bush tax cuts.

“Essentially what [Kyl] meant was that going deeply into debt to cut taxes was acceptable,”  Hoyer said in response to Kyl’s comments on Fox News Sunday.

Kyl publicly voiced his approval for extending the Bush tax cuts on the program, despite negative impacts the tax cuts have on the deficit. “Now, somebody at some point or time has to pay that bill,” the top Democrat said. “Thirty-five percent of our deficit that we confront is directly attributable to that philosophy.”

Hoyer acknowledged a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, which showed that a growing number of Americans disapprove of President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy.

“I’m not happy about it,” said Hoyer. “Americans are angry… their economy is still not working the way it ought to work. Their anger should be focused on not returning to the Bush, Hastert, Boehner, McCain, policies, which plunged us deep into debt and resulted in the worst economy in the lifetime of almost every American.”

The House Leader took time to applaud the recent passage of the budget enforcement resolution, which passed before Congress took its July 4th recess.  As a former member of the House Appropriations Committee, Hoyer said that the act was significant, even though he would have preferred a full budget. 

“I believe the budget enforcement resolution was, in fact, a very meaningful action taken by the Congress,” Hoyer said. “This was not some superficial action without meaning.” 

The resolution sets discretionary spending $7 billion below what President Obama requested.

Senate Health Bill Would Make Bernie Madoff Proud, Says Thune

Travis Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Claiming that Democrats are pulling ‘gimmicks’ on the American public, Senate Republicans on Friday blasted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) health reform bill, which the Congressional Budget Office says will cost nearly $2.5 trillion after all the provisions have been enacted.

“In the words of the great Yogi Berra, 'this is deja vu all over again',” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). “They [Democrats] assume savings on the [Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act], which Sen. Conrad has described as a ponzi scheme of the first order...something that Bernie Madoff would be proud of."

The CLASS Act, S.697, sponsored by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), would amend the Public Health Service Act to create a national, voluntary disability insurance program under which all employees are automatically enrolled, but are allowed to waive enrollment. Establishing this new program is contingent upon Reid's big bill passing.

Thune his Republican colleagues were flanked by massive charts displaying the nation's current debt as well as potential debt increases that they argued would be caused by H.R. 3590, otherwise known as the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." With a major vote to determine whether or not the bill will proceed to the floor expected to take place Saturday night, GOP leaders are looking to convince a few moderate Democrats to join them.

“It would be our hope that our more moderate colleagues on the Democratic side would respect the wished of the constituents, rather than doing the bidding of Harry Reid,” said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). ”At the end of the day, this health care legislation will impact every American in extraordinary ways. We believe in a very negative way. We hope the views of the American people will be respected."