It’s hard to reconcile Steny Hoyer’s optimism about the Super Committee with his own assessment of the GOP’s allergy to tax increases.
The top Democratic vote counter in the House says he thinks that far-reaching legislation to reduce deficits over 10 years can both pass the lower chamber and meet the terms of President Obama’s veto threat — that every dollar of cuts to Medicare benefits must be matched by a dollar in new revenue taken from wealthier Americans. But it’s hard to square that with the facts on the ground.
At his weekly Capitol briefing with reporters I asked Hoyer if deficit Super Committee legislation that meets President Obama’s standard could pass the House.
“Yes I do,” Hoyer said. “I think that if we work together in a bipartisan way, as frankly we have on all the fiscal issues that before the Congress in the House of Representatives: The first CR, the second CR, the debt limit…. I think it can, with bipartisan votes.”
But just moments before, Hoyer acknowledged that Republicans are far from where they need to be on revenues in order to fall within the parameters of Obama’s veto threat.
“I thought it was a very positive sign that Republicans put revenues on the table,” Hoyer told reporters. “But I agree with [Super Committee member James] Clyburn — they put $300 billion on, and took $800 billion off. That’s not a very positive direction to go, you’re going half a trillion dollars in the wrong direction in that deal.”
The panel needs to report its recommendations to Congress a week from today — hard to swing revenue by over a trillion dollars in seven days.
