Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi says she wants to protect social insurance programs with her picks for the Super Congress created by the debt-ceiling debacle.
At a pre-recess press conference Tuesday afternoon, TPM asked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) whether the people she appoints to the committee will make the same stand she made during the debt limit fight—that entitlement benefits—as opposed to provider payments, waste and other Medicare spending—should be off limits.
In short, yes.
"That is a priority for us," Pelosi said. "But let me say it is more than a priority—it is a value... it's an ethic for the American people. It is one that all of the members of our caucus share. So that I know that whoever's at that table will be someone who will fight to protect those benefits."
It appears that she might be alone in that, according to this story from the Washington Post, in which Harry Reid says he's perfectly willing to “put people on it who are willing to do entitlement cuts . . . people with open minds.”
The bipartisan panel, to be named this month, is likely to confront the same ideological divide that caused an almost crippling impasse in the debt-limit debate. Republican leaders are warning that they will not include anyone on the panel who is willing to raise taxes, prompting Democrats to threaten a hard line against cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits. [...]
In an interview, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said that he would like to “put people on it who are willing to do entitlement cuts . . . people with open minds.” But the GOP’s uncompromising stand against tax increases, he said, “makes it pretty hard for me.” [...]
“Republicans are going to have to decide whether it’s more important to protect special-interest tax breaks or whether it’s more important to protect the national security of the United States,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee. “That’s the choice they’re going to have to make.”
In an interview, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) agreed that the trigger is “really catastrophic” and that the consequences of not coming up with a bipartisan debt-reduction plan would be “unacceptable.” Referring to the new committee, McConnell said, “We all view this as a real deal.”
But Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate—who is widely viewed as one of McConnell’s likely picks to serve on the panel—called the fate of the tax issue uncertain.
“What remains to be seen is whether any discussion of taxes is appropriate,” Kyl said. “I think it’s pretty unlikely.”
Kyl is also on the record as being adamantly opposed to any defense cuts, ratcheting up his rhetoric and saying that President Obama's willingness to put it into the mix on cuts amounted to “knowing destruction of the U.S. military.”
On the Democratic Senate side, names being floated are Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) (a "yes" vote on the non-report of the Catfood Commission), Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Finance Chair Max Baucus (D-MT). That's a team that doesn't immediately inspire confidence as being willing to go to the mattresses for progressive goals. Hopefully Pelosi's team will be able to counterbalance them to a degree.
But, in the meantime, as Harry Reid ponders his team selection, he needs to be reminded of this.
Hopefully he feels as strong a commitment to Medicare and Medicaid, and keeps that commitment in mind as he selects his team.