Pelosi: No Lines In The Sand On Super Committee Deficit Cuts (TPM)

[chill_wind]

Pelosi: No Lines In The Sand On Super Committee Deficit Cuts
Brian Beutler | August 4, 2011, 12:39PM

While Republicans race to set the expectation that they will reject any proposal from a powerful new fiscal committee if it includes higher tax revenues, don't expect Democrats to be nearly as adamant about entitlement programs.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says her caucus will be broadly united in a fight to protect Medicare and other successful programs from cuts when the committee convenes to reduce deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years. But neither she nor the people she appoints to that committee will publicly draw bright lines.

"I'm not drawing any lines in the sand because I think it plays into their hand," Pelosi told a small group of reporters invited to her office on Thursday morning. "When 12 clowns are in a ring and a sane person jumps into the ring he looks like the 13th clown.... It is part of their plan to keep the attention on this, and the debt and the who and the rest and I'm simply not going to do it."

Far from suggesting that the Democrats she appoints on the committee will keep a wide-open mind to cutting benefits for seniors, she emphasized that her caucus is broadly unified against such measures. But she also said House Democrats on the committee will work toward a solution that's better than allowing an enforcement mechanism -- $500 billion in defense cuts, and domestic spending reductions, including a two percent cut to Medicare providers -- to take effect.


http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/pelosi-no-lines-in-the-sand-on-super-committee-deficit-cuts.php?ref=fpa

[Ganja Ninja]

1. Well so far the framing of all this "super committee" talk seems to be all about cuts.

I thought tax increases were suppose to be on the table too.

[gratuitous]

5. Democrats are flexible on cuts; Republicans are adamant they won't raise taxes

I'm on pins and needles! What will come out of the Super Congress??? Will we get a balanced package of cuts with a restoration of a progressive tax code? Will we get a package of cuts across the board? Will any proposed cuts to defense be overcome by the Republicans and "reluctantly" assented to by Democrats so they don't look "soft on defense"? Will Fox and the Mighty Republican Wurlitzer demagogue the issue relentlessly until they bludgeon their way to getting 98% of what they wanted in the first place?

It's anybody's guess!

[Freddie Stubbs]

12. The "super committee" can recommend all sorts of tax increases, but we all know that

there is no chance in hell that such increases will pass the House.

[DJ13]

2. ......

[Altoid_Cyclist]

3. I wish that I didn't have a feeling similar to what Damocles must have felt.

The people who rely on these programs should be allowed to sue the t-baggers and anyone else who compounds the uncertainty that a lot of us are feeling.

All that we can do is hope for the best and try to prepare for the worst just in case. Is this really any way to run a country?????

[sabrina 1]

4. Lol, here we go again.

'We really mean it when we say we will protect Medicare, but we won't take a strong stand to do so because that would play into their hands'!!!!!

Okay, who is advising these people??

Can anyone explain this logic to me? From past experience they have lost nearly every fight using that 'we won't draw any lines in the sand just because the other side does' garbage.

What would Sun Tzu say about this strategy?

[chill_wind]

6. My head hurts. First that, now this:"She has a plan".

(snip)

Pelosi was reluctant to spell out just how she would stave off this situation, however. "I would say that if I were to tell you...it would be defanged," she said, after being pressed for details. "In terms of what we -- how we would approach where they go from here. And that may be a House Democratic position.... Our members were very unhappy about that vote the other day. Very unhappy."

Just how Democrats plan to proceed may ultimately depend on their willingness to stomach the unpleasant consequences of letting Republicans shoot the hostages. But in a revealing moment, Pelosi hinted Democrats may have reached their breaking point.

(snip)

She Has A Plan: Pelosi Says There’ll Be No More Hostage Crises
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/she-has-a-plan-pelosi-says-therell-be-no-more-hostage-crises.php

[FiveGoodMen]

7. ALREADY back-pedaling!

Didn't figure it would take long, but wow!

[readmoreoften]

8. We'll probably leave with a .001 raise in taxes in exchange for a 10% cut to Social Security.

Then next year they'll lower taxes again.

[zipplewrath]

9. By all means let's negotiate with ourselves

here we go again telling the GOP where we will and won't give in before we ever GET to the table. Sure, let's indicate what sacrifices we'll make right up front so they become the starting point for all discussions. Great way to move to the right before you ever start.

[bvar22]

10. That is NOT reassuring.

Weasel Language ALL over the place.

In the end, Nancy will DO what she always does,
and THAT is whatever the Party leadership TELLS her to do.

BOHICA

[spanone]

11. so once again we put everything on the table and they pick and choose

[chill_wind]

13. So what's her secret sauce?

"She Has A Plan"

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/she-has-a-plan-pelosi-says-therell-be-no-more-hostage-crises.php


Is she talking about an impasse and letting the Republicans self-destruct all the way with a government shutdown "for a few days"?

Or is she just talking the same old usual George Lakoff "framing the issues" electoral stuff?

Anybody? Ugh.

[Recursion]

14. Everybody knows the broad outlines of what has to happen, but nobody is willing to go first

Basically, the following things have to happen:

1. Some sort of tax reform gets us the revenue levels of the 90s
2. Some form of cost controls limits the growth of Medicare spending
3. The defense budget decreases significantly

#1 will happen with rates lower than under Clinton (but higher than now) and the removal of most exemptions in the tax code
#2 will happen through PPACA and will mean doctors and other providers will make less than they do now
#3 has been in the works since Rumsfeld (he's awful at running wars but actually pretty good at reducing costs; we just won't get to see the results for another 5 years or so)

Social Security will remain a loud red herring (remember, even Ryan didn't touch it in his budget) but nobody will actually want to do anything about it because it's a politically painful cut that won't actually decrease on-book deficits (even though cutting it would decrease actual borrowing).

IMO the result here isn't some big mystery, and isn't terribly awful.

[chill_wind]

18. Re: the Ryan plan

>remember, even Ryan didn't touch it in his budget<

Well the deficit commission did and the Gang of Six was certainly open to it.

[GOTV]

15. Well I trust her. After all, the Dems have been doing great so far!

[Broderick]

16. We are merely pawns

In the bilking mechanism. What outrage will they ask for donations for next?

[amborin]

17. she tends to capitluate.....