Nov 21 2011
News outlets covered the latest tension in super committee negotiations. The Republicans offered a much-smaller deal which they say would not cut Medicare or Medicaid.
Reuters: U.S. Deficit Deal Still Possible: Republican
A key member of a stalemated congressional panel urged Democrats Saturday to join an attempt by his fellow Republicans to craft a deal to cut the U.S. deficit before next week's deadline. ... [Republican Senator Patrick] Toomey's remarks, in his party's weekly radio address, amounted to a plug for how Republicans on the 12-member "super committee" on deficit reduction would draft a deal by a deadline of midnight Wednesday (Ferraro, 11/19).
The Washington Post: 'Supercommittee' At Impasse As Deadline Approaches
Running from one small huddle to the next, lawmakers on the special deficit committee continued trying to reach a compromise before a Wednesday deadline. After that, the panel loses special legislative advantages that could help its recommendations win congressional approval (Kane and Helderman, 11/18).
The Wall Street Journal: Smaller Deficit Deal Floated
Congress's last-gasp deficit-cut talks broke into two tracks Friday, with members of a special committee continuing to seek an elusive $1.2 trillion deal while party leaders discussed a smaller, backup plan in case they fail. Talk of a Plan B reflected the bleak outlook facing the committee as it heads into its final days (Bendavid and Hook, 11/18).
The New York Times: As Deadline Nears, Deficit Panel Is Still at Deep Impasse
Seeking to reach at least a partial accord, Republicans made their six Democratic counterparts on the committee an offer that would get to roughly half of its goal -; a retreat for an earlier plan with cuts in spending and revenue increases -; but Democrats rejected it out of hand as inadequate. ... Mr. Boehner, stepping in to the talks as the deadline neared, helped devise the Republican proposal, which offered less in new revenues than a previous Republican plan (Steinhauer and Pear, 11/18).
CBS News: Supercommittee Dems Rebuff GOP Contingency Plan
"This package represented a good-faith offer that excluded all of the reforms and entitlement programs that Democrats have expressed concern over," said the GOP leadership aide. "The proposal did not touch Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security." ... One senior Democratic aide said the GOP proposal is "laughable and disappointing" (Jackson, 11/18).
Bloomberg: Supercommittee in U.S. Moving Further Apart on Talks
Democrats who represent districts with many elderly or low- income residents said sequestration is preferable to some options being considered by the supercommittee, such as limiting benefits in programs like Medicare. ... Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the supercommittee's Republican co-chairman, has said Republicans won't go beyond their offer to raise tax revenue by $300 billion until Democrats offer a plan to address the growth in spending on entitlement programs (Przybyla and Laura Litvan, 11/19).
Politico: Supercommittee Fallout May Infect 2012 Election
To be sure, there are escape hatches. Republicans are considering packaging unemployment benefits and the so-called "doc fix" with a bill filled with spending cuts -; a duel-headed strategy to lessen the impact of the sequester by crafting a bill Obama could not turn down (Raju, Sherman and Kim, 11/18).
CNN Money: The Super Committee Escape Hatch
The "automatic" budget cuts that were supposed to deter super-committee members from punting won't actually kick in until 2013. And that gives Congress more than 13 months to modify the law. There will be tremendous pressure to do so. The cuts would slash $1.2 trillion in defense and nondefense spending. Exempt from the cuts: Social Security and programs for low-income people, such as Medicaid. Medicare cuts, meanwhile, would be limited (Riley, 11/18).
The Hill: Reid Not Buttering Up Boehner Now That He Has Leverage In Deficit Talks Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) are ready to tango once again on spending cuts and taxes but this time the balance of power favors Reid. Democrats say Boehner and his GOP colleagues lack the leverage they had earlier this year, when congressional inaction would have resulted in a government shutdown or default. ... Congressional aides say they expect the two leaders to talk over the weekend, though they cautioned they are not likely to "dive in" unless the supercommittee makes substantially more progress toward an agreement (Bolton, 11/19).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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