Paul Pounces On Lagging Super Committee

By Adrianna McGinley

Presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) blasted the so-called super committee for failing to produce a plan to reduce the national deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years, an amount Paul called “laughably small.”

In a statement released Monday, Paul said the super committee “merely needs to cut about $120 billion annually from the federal budget over the next 10 years to meet its modest goals, but even this paltry amount has produced hand-wringing and hysteria on Capitol Hill.”

Paul said the cuts the 12-member panel was tasked with making were from previously proposed increases, and nothing substantial would have emerged even if a deal was made. The fact that they did not accomplish that goal, Paul said, “shows how unserious politicians are about our very serious debt problems.”

The Texas congressman accused the federal government of “lying” when promising to provide Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits to future generations while simultaneously “maintaining our wildly interventionist foreign policy.”

To eliminate new debt and create a balanced budget, Paul proposed returning to the $2.3 trillion federal budget of 2004, a figure he estimates will match that of the national GDP.

“Was the federal government really too small just seven years ago, in 2004? Of course not,” Paul said. “Only Washington hysteria would have us believe otherwise.”

The super committee is expected to announce Monday that no deal has been reached.

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.

Super Committee Stumbles Two Weeks Before Deadline

Despite an eventful week of trading offers within President Obama’s 12-member “supercommittee,” reported breakthroughs have since been downplayed, indicating that the bipartisan panel is stalling yet again with just two weeks before its Nov. 23 deadline. 

On Monday, Democrats proposed a plan that would cut $2.3 trillion from the nation’s deficit, including $1 trillion in hiked revenues. Republicans, for the first time, countered by reducing including revenues by lowering Democrats’ proposed figure to $300 billion.

Earlier in the week, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) applauded the proposal put forth by Republican panel members, saying that this was a great starting point. 

“I assume that what we heard from Republicans is a breakthrough that can lead to an agreement, and that’s what we need,” Durbin told reporters Wednesday. 

However, not all Democrats share Durbin’s sentiment and argue that the “breakthrough” was not a genuine attempt to reach a deal. 

Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.), the remaining two Senate Democrats on the panel, say that the shift from Republicans only reflects minimal changes and do not “raise revenues in a significant way to bring us to a fair [and] balanced proposal.”

To make matters worse, Senate leadership continue to trade barbs over who’s to blame for the committee’s slowed progress. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) continues to point his finger at Grover Norquist, saying Republicans fear potential repercussions of acting contrary to his anti-tax pledge. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has criticized Democrats and the White House for stalling in order to give the President a chance to run opposite a “do-nothing” Congress. 

Up to this point, the 12-member panel has shown flexibility with the two sacred cows that have been major factors in creating an impasse within the committee; entitlement programs and taxes. Lawmakers have indicated that, despite recent concession from both parties regarding these key issues, there continues to be a large gap that has stalled movement towards a final deal. 

“Republicans have put revenues on the table. Democrats have put entitlements on the table,” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said, according to the Associate Press. “They both need to more of each on the table.”

Boehner Downplays Norquist's Influence On GOP

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that the attitude surrounding the “super committee” and congressional leadership is “one of nervousness,” once again urging members of the 12-member panel to find common ground before a fast-approaching Thanksgiving deadline.

“I think the mood is one of nervousness,” Boehner told reporters during a Thursday press conference. “This is hard, and everybody knows it’s hard. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the work of all the members of the committee and their effort to try and come to an agreement. “

A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter Wednesday recommending that both entitlement cuts and new revenues be included in a grand bargain deal that would make a significant dent in the nation’s debt. The letter seemed to have instilled a sense of hope in Congress that a deal was not as improbable as many had thought.

However, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist offered his skepticism of 40 Republican signatures attached to the letter, saying “there’s nothing wrong with considering all options. Consider anything. Just don’t vote for a tax increase,” according to reports.

Norquist, who heads the group Americans for Tax Reform has collected signatures from nearly every Republican in Congress - including Boehner - pledging to oppose the inclusion of any tax increase in a potential “super committee” deal.

During his remarks, Boehner side-stepped questions regarding Norquist’s influence on the Republican conference. Boehner, who signed Norquist’s pledge opposing tax increases, referred to the anti-tax activist as “some random person” and shied away from acknowledging his clout among rank-and-file Republicans.

“Our focus here is on jobs. We’re getting everything we can to get our economy moving again and get people back to work. It’s not often I’m asked about some random person in America,” Boehner answered. “Our conference is opposed to tax hikes because we believe that tax hikes will hurt our economy and put Americans out of work.”

GOP'ers Urge Senate To Bring 'Forgotten 15' To Floor

By Andrea Salazar

Six Republican members of Congress urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Thursday to bring 15 Republican jobs bills that passed the House with bipartisan support to the Senate floor for debate.

Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Reps. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) and Bill Flores (R-Texas) called for an end to overregulation, via measures included in the “Forgotten 15,” as a means to expand businesses.

“These are all things the House has done and the Senate ought to be working on, and done in a bipartisan way,” Thune said. “We need to be working on things for which there is bipartisan support, and I would argue that the 15 that passed in the House would have bipartisan support in the Senate as well.”

Some of the “Forgotten 15,” or “Ignored 20” as Portman called them, include bills that would prohibit the government from regulating the Internet and greenhouse gas emissions and that would allow for offshore oil drilling.

Asked about the stalemate between Democrats and Republicans on increased revenue, Sens. Thune and Hutchison rejected the idea that increasing taxes would solve, what Thune called, a spending problem.

“I am for revenue increases the old fashioned way - by growth in the private sector,” Hutchison said. “Create jobs and then we will have more revenue. That’s the way you get more revenue. The idea of raising taxes permanently for spending programs that are temporary is bad policy. That’s why we’re saying we don’t want tax increases, we want to encourage business.”

Echoing Hutchison, Flores, a businessman himself, dismissed the president’s jobs plan and called for less business regulation.

“The president’s American Jobs bill will not work because it’s a Washington solution,” Flores said. “The American people want Main Street solutions.”