Reid: Joint Committee Must Include Taxes Or Trigger Will Kick In

Real Clear Politics ^ | 8/2/2011

[GreaterSwiss]

"We've had too much talk the last few days of Republicans as early as this morning, Republican leaders in the Senate saying there will be no revenue. That's not going to happen. Otherwise, the trigger is going to kick in. The only way we can arrive at a fair arrangement for the American people with this joint committee is to have equal sharing. It's going to be painful. Each party if they do the right thing, it's going to be painful for them because to be fair, we have to move forward. There has to be equal spending cuts, there has to be some revenue that matches that," Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said on the floor of the Senate right before voting started on the debt deal. Increased revenue from taxes was not included in the debt compromise.

[wasp69]

Thank you for injecting some common sense into this otherwise chaotic wind tunnel of a thread.

[1035rep]

Thanks for the link MNJohnnie. That was much easier to understand.

[StAnDeliver]

"There has to be equal spending cuts, there has to be some revenue that matches that," Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said on the floor of the Senate right before voting started on the debt deal. Increased revenue from taxes was not included in the debt compromise"

Could this guy be any dumber. Used car salesman, and not even a good one...

[silentknight]

SPIT on the GOP

A special place in hell for those who sell out our children’s futures

The Tea Party needs to find MORE candidates and take our country back from this madness.

My greatest FEAR is that it is too late.

Europe is near meltdown
Iran is about to create a new arms race in the middle east
America teetering on depression

[americanophile]

They’ll be only too happy to allow 50% of the cuts to come from defense.

[Mariner]

"Arguably the most loathsome person on the planet.."

NOT EVEN CLOSE!

What about the 200+ "Republicans" in the House that voted for this bill? They LIED TO US when they said they would protect our interests.

Those are far more loathsome.

[wmfights]

◦If this new Joint Committee legislative process fails to result in a law, then there will be no tax increases and there will be triggered $1.2 T of across-the-board spending cuts in discretionary spending, Medicare, farm subsidies, and a few smaller entitlements. These triggered spending cuts would hit defense more deeply than other types of spending.

◦The additional deficit reduction could include tax increases, but only if:

◦7 of 12 Members of a new Joint Committee of Congress agree to raise taxes, including at least one Republican Member of the Committee;

◦and a majority of the House and Senate vote for the Committee’s recommendations;

◦and the President signs the bill into law.

Thank you for posting the link that included this information.

http://keithhennessey.com/2011/08/01/bca-summary/

It seems that the key for the Pubs is to put the right people on the "dirty dozen". The defense cuts are a big concern, but if they are spread out over 10 years they only reflect 50 billion a year.

[Reagan is King]

Good info, thanks.

[Founding Father]

The Pubies STILL have leverage.

The pubbies HAD leverage, but agreed to throw it away. Get back to me when boner, canker, and old macconnell are long gone. They enjoy rolling for the dems more than a hog in mud.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

Do you really think those Bush tax cuts would have stayed anyways unless we get a conservative Pres and a strong Senate?

We know they would be cut...so don’t say that is part of this “no taxes’ deal. If we had taxes now on this deal, we would still be increasing taxes even more! We staved off taxes so far, then its up to the election to make sure the Bush cuts stay.

[CA Conservative]

And (correct me if I’m wrong here) if the Gang of 12 doesn’t agree on a budget-cutting remedy, tax hikes will occur as a result of a “trigger.”

I'm going to correct you. They were discussing having automatic tax increases as part of a "trigger", but that was dropped. Now, if the "trigger" gets pulled, there are automatic cuts - 1/2 from "security" funding (including defense, state department, homeland security, etc), and half from other domestic spending, including some from Medicare, but not from SS or Medicaid.

[CA Conservative]

Bush "TAX CUTS" set to expire.

True, but those are already figured into the existing calculations, so they can't be applied to the $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction they are supposed to achieve.

[ScottinVA]

The factoring of the Bush tax cut sunset was CBO`s work when the numbers were crunched, not my assumption.

[ilgipper]

you are probably right. If any of the ones you mention our on it, McConnell needs to be tarred and feathered. I suspect they will be closer to your guesses than mine. Probably at least one of the gang of six, unfortunately.

[CA Conservative]

And the GOP can cut off all sorts of funding too. There are no automatic taxes in this bill, NONE.

Perhaps this is a matter of semantics. I think people are confusing the expiration of the Bush tax cuts with new taxes that will be proposed by the Dems.

If/when the Bush tax cuts expire, that will be the largest tax increase in history. But no one will have to go on record to get that tax increase - it will happen automatically, not as a result of this bill, but as a result of the bill passed last December. Because that increase is already figured into the CBO baseline, the Dems cannot use that revenue as part of the $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction the committee is supposed to recommend. They know that. So any talk of tax increases by the Dems is about new taxes IN ADDITION TO the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

[Gaffer]

Because it has to! Obama gots cash in his pocket (another $2T) and itchin' to buy him some new amnesty votes along with increasing the % of people (his voters) who don't work from 47% to 55 or 60%. He's tired of these close votes alla time.

[Gaffer]

Hey....that’s a cool name! Rinocracy.....[Rye-knock-rah-see]. Know what? I just co-opted it!

[corvus]

“Otherwise, the trigger is going to kick in.”

Sure sounds like that ‘cowboy poet’ has an itchy trigger finger.

[Melchior]

See #14. Please read.

[GeronL]

Some victory huh?

Obama and the Democrats got everything

we get the shaft again