Lawmakers on the congressional supercommittee made no visible progress ahead of a Nov. 23 deadline for a debt-reduction deal even as negotiators picked up the pace of bipartisan talks aimed at an agreement.
Republicans and Democrats offered a series of competing plans in the past week as they seek at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade, all of them rejected by the opposite side as negotiators offered little sign of progress or optimism.
The 12-member supercommittee, created in the aftermath of a rancorous debate over raising the nation’s debt ceiling in August, is struggling to find deficit reductions while Republicans reject Democrats’ demands for tax increases and Democrats oppose Republican efforts to make changes in entitlement programs such as Medicare.
“It looks like a standoff,” said former Democratic U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, who is now a lobbyist. “Nobody’s ever created a supercommittee where you have 523 members of Congress that are not involved and 12 who are working largely in secret,” he said. “It was generally a bad idea from the start.”
Even if negotiators are able to reach a compromise, some House Republicans signaled that any agreement with tax increases probably won’t pass the Republican-controlled chamber.
Sticking Point
“It would be difficult” to win passage of a plan that includes more taxes, said Representative Jim Jordan, head of the fiscally conservative Republican Study Committee, in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday. “They may not get to some kind of agreement.”
Working against a Nov. 23 deadline for a deal, Democrats rejected a plan Republicans offered as a fallback. The Nov. 17 package included $643 billion in deficit reductions, a Republican leadership aide said yesterday. Democrats spurned it because it didn’t include enough revenue increases, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide. Both aides spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the supercommittee negotiations.
The plan is “unacceptable,” said Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. Not requiring more taxes from high earners would be “unconscionable,” Kerry said. He said he remains hopeful for a deal, “but I don’t know at this time.”
Corporate Jets
The Republican aide said the party’s proposal included $640 billion in spending cuts and interest savings, and $3 billion in revenue raised by ending a tax break for corporate jet travel; it didn’t change entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid opposed by Democrats, the aide said.
“Where the divide is right now is on taxes, whether or not the wealthiest Americans should share in the sacrifice,” Democratic Senator Patty Murray, the co-chairwoman of the panel said going into a meeting yesterday.
“It looks harder today than it did certainly two weeks ago,” supercommittee member Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, told Bloomberg Television yesterday.
Later he met with a bipartisan group of five senators on the supercommittee to try to break the logjam. Most Republican lawmakers shunned the spotlight, with Senator John Kyl of Arizona saying only, “the meeting went just fine.”
Representative Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican and panel member, said time is running out and blamed Democrats.
“They really have not been willing to make the common- sense spending reductions we need to make but yet are continuing at the same time to insist on $1 trillion in job killing tax increases,” Camp told reporters.
Republicans and Democrats offered a series of competing plans in the past week as they seek at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade, all of them rejected by the opposite side as negotiators offered little sign of progress or optimism.
The 12-member supercommittee, created in the aftermath of a rancorous debate over raising the nation’s debt ceiling in August, is struggling to find deficit reductions while Republicans reject Democrats’ demands for tax increases and Democrats oppose Republican efforts to make changes in entitlement programs such as Medicare.
“It looks like a standoff,” said former Democratic U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, who is now a lobbyist. “Nobody’s ever created a supercommittee where you have 523 members of Congress that are not involved and 12 who are working largely in secret,” he said. “It was generally a bad idea from the start.”
Even if negotiators are able to reach a compromise, some House Republicans signaled that any agreement with tax increases probably won’t pass the Republican-controlled chamber.
Sticking Point
“It would be difficult” to win passage of a plan that includes more taxes, said Representative Jim Jordan, head of the fiscally conservative Republican Study Committee, in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday. “They may not get to some kind of agreement.”
Working against a Nov. 23 deadline for a deal, Democrats rejected a plan Republicans offered as a fallback. The Nov. 17 package included $643 billion in deficit reductions, a Republican leadership aide said yesterday. Democrats spurned it because it didn’t include enough revenue increases, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide. Both aides spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the supercommittee negotiations.
The plan is “unacceptable,” said Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. Not requiring more taxes from high earners would be “unconscionable,” Kerry said. He said he remains hopeful for a deal, “but I don’t know at this time.”
Corporate Jets
The Republican aide said the party’s proposal included $640 billion in spending cuts and interest savings, and $3 billion in revenue raised by ending a tax break for corporate jet travel; it didn’t change entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid opposed by Democrats, the aide said.
“Where the divide is right now is on taxes, whether or not the wealthiest Americans should share in the sacrifice,” Democratic Senator Patty Murray, the co-chairwoman of the panel said going into a meeting yesterday.
“It looks harder today than it did certainly two weeks ago,” supercommittee member Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, told Bloomberg Television yesterday.
Later he met with a bipartisan group of five senators on the supercommittee to try to break the logjam. Most Republican lawmakers shunned the spotlight, with Senator John Kyl of Arizona saying only, “the meeting went just fine.”
Representative Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican and panel member, said time is running out and blamed Democrats.
“They really have not been willing to make the common- sense spending reductions we need to make but yet are continuing at the same time to insist on $1 trillion in job killing tax increases,” Camp told reporters.