WASHINGTON – The Gang of Six, which includes Georgia U.S. Sen. Saxby Champbliss, is ready to swoop in with its own proposal to save roughly $4 trillion if a supercommittee appointed to reduce the nation's deficit fails to approve a plan.
The gang was joined at a crowded news conference Wednesday morning by dozens of senators and House members who have signed on with them to urge the 12-member committee tasked with reducing the deficit to “go big” and seek far more than the legally required $1.2 trillion in savings
The supercommittee, created in the Aug. 2 deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, has made little progress so far. Chambliss said he is “not optimistic” it will forge a deal.
In that case, the Georgia Republican said the Gang of Six proposal could be a substitute.
“If their effort fails or doesn’t go to the extent that we think it should, we will reassess our position and see where we need to go,” Chambliss said.
The supercommittee has until Wednesday to produce a bill, which must pass both houses of Congress by Dec. 23. Failure would trigger cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs that no one wants – a mechanism intended to force a bargain.
But leaked proposals from Democrats and Republicans on the committee have been dismissed by the opposing side, as Republicans oppose any tax increase while Democrats refuse to cut entitlement programs without raising taxes on the highest wage earners.
Pessimism abounds, with rampant talk of reversing the “sequester” of domestic and military cuts assuming a supercommittee deadlock. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued a pointed warning this week, saying $600 billion in Pentagon cuts would damage national security. And many comments at Wednesday’s news conference reflected that fear.
“Sequestration is not a worthwhile option,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the second-ranking Democrat in the House.
Hoyer joined the House effort led by Idaho Republican Mike Simpson to urge a big supercommittee deal along the lines of the Gang of Six. Savannah's John Barrow, a Democrat, and Jack Kingston, a Republican, were among the 100 U.S. House members to sign on. Across the Capitol, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., is one of nearly 50 senators to lend their support to the Gang of Six -- led by Chambliss and Virginia Democrat Mark Warner -- which came up with a plan in July to reduce $3.7 trillion in future deficits, but never produced an actual bill.
Of that sum, $1.5 trillion came from tax reform that reduced many tax rates while eliminating a slew of deductions. The proposal also included cuts to domestic programs, a change in the way cost-of-living adjustments are calculated for Social Security and other reforms.
It’s unclear whether such a proposal could clear the House or the Senate, but the bipartisan group that assembled Wednesday morning argued that a bigger proposal is more likely to pass.
“Going bigger is easier politically,” Durbin said. “It doesn’t sound right, does it? But when you start putting enough on the table that both parties, House and Senate, realize this is historic, this is worth the political risk, and if we stand together and lock arms together we can achieve something as a group that no single individual can achieve. … This is our chance to step up and make a difference.”
A minimum $1.2 trillion deal means Congress is just going to have to revisit the issue sooner, Chambliss said, as budget experts have said that a $4 trillion course correction is necessary to stabilize the country's finances. He called a reported Republican offer that included $300 billion in tax increases a "major step," and added that any deal will upset each party's absolutists.
"Folks who are going to criticize you for doing what's necessary to get $1.2 trillion in reductions, they’re going to be the same folks who criticize you if we get an additional 3, 4 or 5 trillion," he said.
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