Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the Democratic co-chair of the congressional super committee, said this morning on CNN’s State of the Union that the super committee charged with crafting a deficit reduction plan remains stuck on the Bush tax cuts:
“There is one sticking divide, and that is the issue of what I call shared sacrifice, where everybody contributes in a very challenging time for our country,” Murray told CNN’s Candy Crowley on “State of the Union.”
“That’s the Bush tax cuts, and making sure that any kind of package includes everybody coming to the table and the wealthiest of Americans, those who earn over a million dollars every year, have to share, too. And that line in the sand, we haven’t seen any Republicans willing to cross yet,” Murray said.
The super committee has to approve a plan by Nov. 23. Despite the fact that most expect the super committee to fail, Murray said she is willing to talk to any Republican interested in making a deal. “I’ll be waiting all day…willing to talk to any Republican who says, ‘Look, my country is more important,’” said Murray. “I’m ready.” Watch Murray’s comments:
> This is, of course, more of the same from Republican lawmakers, who have repeatedly taken the country to the brink to preserve the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. One wonders about Republicans’ actual commitment to cutting the deficit when they’re preventing a committee tasked with doing just that from succeeding by demanding more tax cuts, which only grow the deficit.
Previously on Fox News, Murray’s Republican counterpart Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) attacked Democrats on the committee for failing to negotiate about the privatization of Medicare. But Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), who is also on the super committee, said today that’s not true. Democrats are open to cutting entitlement social safety net program, Becerra said.
As Murray told Crowley, referring to Grover Norquist’s pledge against tax increases, “As long as we have some Republican lawmakers who feel more enthralled with a pledge they took to a Republican lobbyist than they do to a pledge to the country to solve the problems, this is going to be hard to do.”
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