Nov 14 2011
Los Angeles Times: Deficit 'Super Committee' May Put Off Decisions
In an effort to avoid stark failure, a fallback plan is emerging that would push tough decisions on taxes to next year, perhaps into a lame-duck session after the election, according to officials familiar with the panel's discussions. Under this scenario, the two sides would agree now to a level of revenue from new taxes. They would direct the congressional tax-writing committees to revamp the tax code with fixed dates and goals. The object would be to generate new revenue while lowering corporate rates and keeping the top individual bracket no higher than the current 35%. ... Democrats would have to allow sizable cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other cherished domestic programs, and Republicans would need to loosen their signature anti-tax stance (Mascaro, 11/11).
The Wall Street Journal: Hints of Hope as Deficit Deadline Approaches
Members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction are still talking-;and doing so with intensifying urgency with an eye toward a Nov. 23 deadline. Differences between the two sides have shrunk somewhat as negotiators have ceded ground on the hot-button issues of taxes and entitlements. Movement has come in inches, not miles, though (Hook and Bendavid, 11/12).
The Hill: Obama Warns He'll Block Any Attempt To Avoid Debt Deal Spending Triggers
President Obama has warned leaders of the supercommittee he will not accept any effort to turn off a mechanism enforcing spending cuts if the panel fails to reach a deal to reduce the deficit. In a Friday phone call to the co-chairmen of the 12-member panel, Obama told Congress it "must not shirk its responsibilities," according to a White House readout of the conversation (Wasson, 11/11).
The Washington Post: Obama Urges Supercommittee Leaders To Reach Deal; Warns Against Undoing Consequences Of Failing To Reach Accord
In a statement, the White House indicated that Obama was seeking an update on the process as a Nov. 23 deadline for cutting at least $1.2 trillion from the nation's deficit over the next 10 years looms. He urged them to strike a deal that would cut both entitlements and raise revenues (Helderman, 11/11).
Politico: Obama Spurns Congress For Overseas
President Barack Obama left on a nine-day trip Friday just as the deficit-cutting supercommittee stumbles into its critical final phase and lawmakers race to avert a government shutdown. And neither Congress nor the White House really seems to care about his absence (Budoff Brown, 11/12).
Los Angeles Times: Obama Heads To Asia, Putting Budget Fray At Arm's Length
Most of Congress' work right now involves the so-called super committee, which has a Nov. 23 deadline for reaching agreement on a long-term plan to reduce the deficit. White House expectations are low that the super committee will succeed. The likelihood of a deadlock only cements the West Wing plan to ignore attempts to lure Obama into a back-and-forth (Parsons and Nicholas, 11/11).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
|