The Village is going to have a new gang to be enthralled with, if this
headline from
The Washington Post is a clue: "House Republicans make cross-party pitch to embolden debt 'supercommittee.'"
Even better, it's bipartisanish (meaning Blue Dog Heath Schuler has signed on, along—inexplicably—with Democrats Emanuel Cleaver and not-so-inexplicably Steny Hoyer).
A group of 40 House Republicans for the first time Wednesday encouraged Congress’s deficit reduction committee to explore new revenue as part of a broad deal that would make a major dent in the nation’s debt, joining 60 Democrats in a rare bipartisan effort to urge the “supercommittee” to reach a big deal that could also include entitlement cuts.
The letter they sent represents a rare cross-party effort for the rancorous House, and its organizers said they hoped it would help nudge the 12-member panel to reach a deal that would far exceed the committee’s $1.5 trillion mandate.
But they're not reading, or don't care about, the fine print:
The bipartisan letter sent Wednesday included no specifics — it did not, for instance, commit its signers to supporting a tax increase, as many Democrats have urged, but merely urged that the committee consider revenue.
Still, Republicans said the number of members of their party who signed was significant, given fear among many members it would nevertheless be interpreted as endorsing taxes, particularly by Grover Norquist, the Americans for Tax Reform president. Norquist urges elected officials to sign a pledge that they will not raise taxes. [...]
Norquist played down the letter’s significance, noting it merely asked the committee to consider all options.
"Consider anything," he said. "Just don’t vote for a tax increase."
And several Republicans who signed the letter were careful to note they were not endorsing a net tax increase—but rather a broad rewrite of the tax code that might close loopholes and lower rates, while still producing more government revenue.
The letter is bullshit and any real Democrat who signed on to it should be ashamed of him or herself. Those Democrats should be demanding a pledge from their Republican colleagues that they will hold their oath of office higher than their oath to Grover Norquist and support real revenue.
9:46 AM PT: Dave Weigel has more.
So are we talking about a change-of-heart move toward tax hikes? Not yet. Rep. Devin Nunes, one of the surprise Republican signers, said off the floor yesterday that he was interested in "radical tax reform." The likelihood of that happening in the plan that must be delivered on November 23? Really, really slim.
UPDATE: Ron Paul's campaign spokesman Jesse Benton answers my question, about whether the Champion of the Constitution's signature indicates that he could vote for a plan that raised taxes or closed loopholes.
"No," says Benton. "He will vote against any tax or fee increases."