One of the most stubborn Senate Democrats on the fiscal cliff negotiations said she believes Republicans are beginning to realize that refusing to raise taxes on the upper-income brackets “is a dead end argument for them.”
“I think there’s a growing understanding among Republicans that putting us in that position doesn’t help them at all, the country at all and does put us in jeopardy,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said yesterday on MSNBC. “So accepting that now, which the country spoke out on in the election, the president won on this issue. The Democratic Senate won on this issue, numerous people talked about this.”
“We have talked for a number of years now about the challenges we have in terms of the debt and deficit and our long term programs. Everybody knows that we have to deal with that in a realistic way. But we have not talked about the investments that are needed in this country that will help make us stronger in the future,” she added. “Whether we’re talking about education or job training or investment in our infrastructure or providing the services for our veterans when they come home or those kinds of things that we can’t just continue to talk about cutting government.”
On Hannity last night, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who’s taking heat for saying a deal is more important than Grover Norquist’s tax pledge, stressed “you just can’t have a hundred percent of everything you want.”
“If Speaker Boehner and Eric Cantor have said, they’re willing to put revenues on the table, then it’s incumbent upon the president to come forward and say, OK, we’ll going to put entitlements on the table in a big way, and we’re going to get this done, and he’s not doing that,” he said. “And I was disappointed to hear some of my colleagues in the Senate say, yesterday that, well, you know, you give us the revenues, and then we’ll talk about entitlement reform later. Ain’t going to happen. We’re not going there.”
The senator also explained his disagreement with the Americans for Tax Reform leader.
“The Simpson-Bowles plan that came out that said we’re going to address the long-term debt of this country, recommended that you eliminate all tax credits and tax inclusions in a major tax reform package. The gang of six that I was a part of, still I’m a part of, followed that recommendation. We think you ought to eliminate all of that. That will generate about $1.2 trillion in revenue. No new taxes. Revenue. Then you decide whether you’re going to add the mortgage interest deduction, charitable deduction, other things back in there,” Chambliss said.
“So the question is, what do you do with that revenue that’s been generated? We owe $16 trillion. I think that you got to pay part of that revenue towards that debt just like every single American that owns a home pays part of their monthly revenue towards their mortgage debt,” he continued. “It’s exactly the same thing. The problem that Grover and I have is that he says, if you do that, that’s a tax increase, because the rest of it is going to go to lowering tax rates, and that’s not 100 percent going to lowering tax rates.”
I suggest the Republicans get a clue.
The democrats have been using the mechanisms of government for years to reward their allies and punish those they see as enemies.
It’s high time the Republicans return the favor.
First stop should be a long hard look at all of those millionaires living in California and New York City, and tailoring specific tax proposals at those specific entities.
They predominantly vote democrat anyway – so give them the old democrat tax and spend treatment right up the wazoo until they are braying like the a$$es they are.
It will comical to see the Republicans try to convince conservative voters that they start for anything in 2 years.
This is a Party committing suicide.
At least some of the Pubs are saying they aren’t going to be hornswaggled into the “raise taxes now, talk about cuts later” routine again. It’s like Charlie Brown letting Lucy hold the football, stupidity repeated.
I’m guessing they’ll end up with that kind of deal anyway.
I think they should agree to “talk about cuts later”. There is a debt ceiling that is going to be hit soon, like in a few months. The D’s want it raised but cannot get a resolution through the House or Senate without R consent. That is when “later” becomes “now”.
Okay, I’ll be blunt–I fully support secession if we do not get a grip on entitlements and the budget. This is madness, and Murray is a fool. If Democrats wish to run their portions of the nation into the ground, more power to them, but I’ll be hanged if I join them in the effort.
Enough is enough.
If the revenues had anything to do with reduces deficits, Chambliss might have a point. But nothing could be farther from the truth. What is scheduled to be collected by the dems will do nothing to reduce our deficit or our spending. It’s the most absurd argument I’ve ever heard anyone make. And the Republicans actually think it makes sense. What stupidity!!!
I suppose this about what we should expect from those who believe hiking taxes on 2% of the “wealthy” that yields less than enough to cover a month’s worth of spending could actually make a dent on the debt. As George Will and others are starting to realize, sequestration is not a threat to be avoided,but a goal awaiting implementation. Just think of all the cuts that can be avoided when the rates go up on the other 98%. Their drool is starting to show.
In terms of federal spending, the tax hikes in question can be measured in hours.
Most Americans don’t understand that there are a thousand billions in a trillion. When we face a $1.2+ trillion annual deficit, saving a billion here and raising a billion in taxes there is completely meaningless.
The Repubs should remind everyone that the Dems have said all along that the Bush Tax cuts were for the “wealthy” (tax cuts for the rich!) and that the economy was better during the Clinton tax rates, so give them what they want and repeal all the Bush tax “cuts”…. No matter what happens the left will blame the Repubs and a recession is already baked in the cake.