The supercommittee failed because Republicans refused to compromise

[ellisonz]

The supercommittee failed because Republicans refused to compromise

By Chris Van Hollen, Published: November 24

On Sept. 8, six Democrats and six Republicans sat down to breakfast at the first meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. We all knew that congressional gridlock had brought us together, but I arrived with high hopes that we would be able to make the tough decisions needed to address the twin challenges of job growth and deficit reduction. We did not succeed — and a huge opportunity was missed.

Our failure is being cast as the result of both parties refusing to give ground, and attempts at explanation are dismissed as partisan finger-pointing. That is a convenient narrative, but it ignores the facts.

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There has been much misinformation about the Republican tax proposal. The Republican claim to have raised $300 billion in “new tax revenue” is misleading. In reality, their willingness to raise $250 billion of that revenue was conditioned on Democrats agreeing to make permanent more than $800 billion of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, which are scheduled to expire at the end of next year — thereby locking in $550 billion of tax breaks for the top 2 percent of earners. Their proposal was further conditioned on reducing tax rates while dramatically cutting various deductions. Analyses by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation indicate that the Republican plan to drop the top rate from 35 percent to 28 percent, while slashing deductions and preserving the current low rates on capital gains, would increase the tax burden on many middle-income families and give the superwealthy a massive tax cut.

Overall, the Republican tax proposal fell nearly $2 trillion short of the revenue raised in Simpson-Bowles and, in comparison, increased the deficit by $500 billion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-supercommittee-failed-because-republicans-refused-to-compromise/2011/11/24/gIQAJGI8wN_story.html

The Republican Mission is to obstruct the President:nopity:

[FreakinDJ]

1. RATpubliCONs wanted a Tax Cut for the Wealthy

are you fucking kidding me

Sitting in Debt Reduction Negotiations asking for a fucking Tax Cut

[ellisonz]

2. That's exactly what they did.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA): Well, I'm glad we're starting right there because what Jon just said is patently not true. We just cut $917 billion without one dime of new revenue. He knows it. We just did it. We cut $550 billion in the healthcare act from Medicare. We didn't raise--I mean, you know, this is just nonsense. Look, David, if, if this weren't so, so serious I, I might laugh. But, you know, the United States of America is in a position right now in Europe, financial system crumbling. You asked about a downgrade a moment ago. The downgrade may--they may look at the $1.2 trillion of sequester, but Jon just talked about how they're not going to do that sequester. He just talked about how they're going to get out from under it. There is a real threat that, not only will there be a downgrade, but that the market on Monday will look again at Washington and say, "You guys can't get the job done." And just the political confusion and gridlock is enough to say to the world, "America can't get its act together."

MR. GREGORY: And--but is there a path for something to get done, or is...

SEN. KERRY: Absolutely.

MR. GREGORY: There is. And what is that?

SEN. KERRY: We, we could have a deal--in the next two hours, we could have an agreement, a solution to this problem. We could cut $1.2 trillion, and we could do it tomorrow morning, we could put it before the nation and get this job done. And there are only two things blocking us from doing that. One, and I've heard this from Republicans in the Senate and in the House who say to me, "The calculation politically has been made by many that they think they're going to win the Senate, win the presidency, and they want to wait until next year and just write their own deal." And the second and most significant block to our doing something right now, tomorrow, is their insistence, insistence, insistence on the Grover Norquist pledge and extending the Bush tax cuts. Now we are not a tax-cutting committee. We're a deficit-reduction committee. And everybody out there has said to us, "Go big. Do $4 trillion." We Democrats put a $4 trillion deal on the table, and it included huge, hard, though, horrible reductions on the sacred cows and things that we have been accused of not being willing to do. We put it out there. I've had demonstrations outside my offices in Boston. I've had people screaming at me because we'd even dare to think of doing this. But they went--they wouldn't accept it. They wouldn't accept a $1.3 trillion cut, $1.3 trillion revenue.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45355107/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/t/meet-press-transcript-november/#.TtDAluZycaA

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. Tax cuts that weren't even paid for either

Remember how they were jumping up and down during the first two years of Obama's Presidency demanding that, suddenly, everything needed to be paid for- even though they didn't bother paying for anything during 8 years of Bush? effin' hypocrites! :puke:

[FreakinDJ]

13. No wonder the Deficit is the same amount as the Tax Cut

[DCBob]

3. Democrats stood their ground on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

That is something to be thankful for!

[Chipper Chat]

4. Kerry was pissed when the meeting adjourned.

He was pushing the boundaries of his Mr. Nice Guy persona.

[DCBob]

6. I dont blame him. The repukes have gone too far.

its sickening.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. The motivation behind the ire of the republicans:

the democrats didn't cave like they were supposed to.

[RC]

7. It is a false dichotomy to compare Republicans tax cuts --

It is a false dichotomy to compare Republican tax cuts and their refusal to raise them to cutting the safety net programs, Social Security, medicare, medicaid etc. as away to pay down the deficit.

It is the republicans doing that the the safety net programs are in trouble in the first place, because of their irrational stance on the tax cuts that are starving the safety net programs.
And don't forget the loss of our Living Wage Jobs through outsourcing, with the resultant loss in tax revenue also.

[MadHound]

8. The supercommittee failed because it was set up to fail,

I mean really now, in this hyperpartisan environment, such a committee had no chance. However what it does get out there are large cuts to many heretofore sacred social programs, and by the time 2013 comes around, rest assured, the military cuts will be out of the picture, but the cuts to those social programs will go ahead.

[Kablooie]

9. It failed because Reps think it will win them thw senate and presidency.

I don't understand how they think this I will help them but they've been right in their calculations before.

[Chipper Chat]

10. KKKarl's brain is working like a mad scientist's over this one.

"Let's trade one Hutchinson for for two Baucuses"
"No Jeb, Romney MUST have a southerner on the ticket. You talk to Marco."
"Hello, Rushh? Do your thing and make the dumocrats on the committee look like pieces of poo."

[ellisonz]

11. Ratfucker.

:rofl:

[Harmony Blue]

14. Obama is still a popular President within his party

despite high unemployment rates. Furthermore, the GOP field is very pedestrian, so it seems using past trends isn't a good indicator of what is to come.

I think they are taking a big gamble by using political capital with this approach. The American people in general may not be well versed in politics, but their opinions can change swiftly. If they keep stalling on the jobs bill for example, till election day that will be in the minds of voters for sure.