Posted on 02/17/2013 2:33:27 PM PST by Libloather
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) predicted Sunday that Republicans would eventually accept Democrats’ combination of closing tax loopholes and spending cuts to replace sequestration.
Schumer characterized the GOP’s plan to offset the across-the-board cuts with other spending cuts and no new revenues as out of step with a majority of voters. The Senate Democratic Policy Committee chairman said Republicans’ preferred path caters to special interests and the wealthy.
“I think that the Democrats have the high ground both substantively and politically, and we will win on this issue. … I believe that just like on the ‘fiscal cliff,’ Republicans will come on board. They have no choice,” Schumer said on CNN’s State of the Union.
But Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) rejected the notion that Republicans would need to accept new tax hikes to replace the $85 billion of cuts slated for March 1.
“These spending cuts are going through on March 1st. The taxes are off the table,” Barrasso said on State of the Union. “The Republican Party is not in any way going to trade spending cuts for tax increases.”
He said a Senate Democratic package released last week had little chance of passing. That plan called for $55 billion in spending cuts and another $55 billion in tax code changes. Of the spending cuts, half would come from the Defense Department, and half from ending direct farm subsidies.
It also would have called for an income tax increase on Americans making at least $1 million per year, which Republicans have resisted.
President Obama also is pushing for a mixture of tax adjustments and spending cuts. He has urged Congress to at least pass a stopgap measure if it cannot reach a deal by March 1.
Barrasso said the likelihood of striking a bargain is low given based on what he has seen and heard from Democrats and the White House.
“There are better ways to do this, but the cuts are going to occur,” Barrasso predicted.
When you are over the target - the flak gets heavy.
Keep on course...
The RATS barely stick their heads out of the sewer they live in and they call it high ground.
Lots of cuts available. Dept of Education to start. Give it all back to the states.
This sequester thing was a Democrat idea in order to kick the can further down the road back in the past. Obama subscribed to it at the time by signing it. It is now his idea. He owns it.
The Republicans should let the hide go with the hair and stick to their guns. It is the only way to get the Dems to assign priorities to their spending by forcing them to make cuts. They have refused to submit a budget (which is a list of priorities) and by failing to do so they have now arrived at the end of the road and the can is still there.
That old saying that if you do not know where you are going, then any road will get you there. Well, the Dems don’t know where they are going (they can’t seem to decide how much debt and deficit is acceptable to them) so they prefer to just take any road.
Scummer means media coverage when he says “high ground.”
Either that or he’s looking for a doob.
Strange. Wonder why Zack Colman didn’t mention Chuckie’s nickname - “B*tch” Schumer?
Don’t do anything. It’s a Schumer law.
Defund the Energy Dept., Education Dept., Interior Dept., Commerce Dept., the EPA, and the Agriculture Dept. for starters. None of these agencies are useful. The USDA can be called what it rightfully is: The Dept. of Food Stamps.
Dept. of Educ. It can be shown how much the U.S. has dropped, in comparison to the rest of the world, since its inception.
Let alone all the other alphabet agencies that exist outside of A1S8
Schumer is right. The Republicans will cave in.
Chuck the Schmuck is a POS, but he sure does know his opponents.Give the Republicans a chance and they will cave in every time.
The GOP is weak and pathetic. I am a pretty seasoned litigator and I have come across some first year lawyers that are better negotiators. There are some lawyers in my industry that are easy marks and get rolled like circus clowns. That’s the GOP
Schumer is the real life “precious”
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