House Republican and Democrat Want a Vote on the 'Gang' Plan

While the Senate won’t even bother voting on the cut, cap and balance plan the House passed Tuesday:

A House Republican and a member of the New Democrat coalition are jointly calling on Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to bring the Senate’s Gang of Six deficit-reduction proposal to a House vote alongside an increase in the debt ceiling.

Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) sent a letter Tuesday to Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) voicing their support for the just-released Gang of Sixproposal, which calls for $3.7 trillion in budget savings over a decade.

“We applaud this effort and ask that you provide the opportunity to vote on this proposal as part of any request for an increase in the debt ceiling before the Aug. 2 debt ceiling deadline,” Wolf and Cooper wrote.

I’ve come around to opposing the Gang plan. It’s not real and therefore won’t turn out to cut spending as promised. Also, the American people haven’t really had the chance to even look at it and weigh it for themselves. It’s yet another backroom deal from a town that seems to offer nothing but backroom deals these days.

And still, no plan from the White House that promised transparency but now says leadership is not putting plan out there where it can be voted on. Come again?

Fine, let the House vote on it. It won’t pass, and then we’re back at the stalemate of the House passing a plan, the Senate drafting vaporware, and the White House scolding everyone else while ducking responsibility.