The "Gang of Six" bipartisan plan has emerged as a possible framework for a deficit-reduction deal because it has "Republican senators acknowledging that revenues need to be part of a balanced package and you had Democratic senators acknowledge that we're going to have to make some difficult spending cuts," President Obama told NPR this afternoon.
"In order for us to solve the debt and deficit problems, we've got to cut spending that we don't need. We have to eliminate programs that may not be working. We've got to make some tough decisions around things like defense spending as well as domestic spending," Obama told Tell Me More host Michel Martin.
"But we're also going to have to have more revenues and we can do that in a way that is not hurting the economy — [and] in fact could potentially help the economy by closing up some loopholes that distort the economy."
...a new development on the Senate side of the Capitol overshadowed that near party-line vote in the House. A newly resuscitated Gang of Six, which included Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who had dropped out two months ago, was revealing its long-promised debt-reduction plan to colleagues desperate for a new proposal with bipartisan backing.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Senate's No. 2 Democrat and a member of the Gang of Six, later described that closed-door session on the Senate floor. "Senators came to the room, and you know what? There were no fistfights, there ... was no swearing," he said. "Instead, Democrats and Republican senators sat in that room, 49 of them, listened to the outline of this Group of Six proposal, and came out with a positive feeling."
One of the 25 Republicans who heard the Gang of Six's proposal for a grand bargain on debt reduction was Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who ranks third in the GOP leadership. He said he was impressed both with the plan and with the three Republican gang members who helped draft it. Overall, the Gang of Six plan would reduce deficits by nearly $4 trillion over the next decade. Half the spending cuts would come from the defense budget. Savings would also come from cutting spending on Medicare and Medicaid; tax rates would be lowered both for individuals and for corporations, and the alternative minimum tax would be abolished. At the same time, many tax deductions would be targeted in order to raise revenue.
House GOP leaders have repeatedly said they oppose the kind of tax revenues the Gang of Six proposes. Still, on Tuesday night those leaders did not dismiss the Gang of Six package out of hand. They and the other congressional leaders are expected back at the White House on Wednesday for more talks.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
