The new mantra in Washington is “Go Big!”
It started with Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles — the co-chairs of President Obama’s fiscal commission — and is now on the lips of scores of members of Congress in both parties.
Joining about two dozen other senators Thursday, Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) urged the new deficit Super Committee “We’re with you! Be brave! Be bold! Go Big!”
Even President Obama wants them to “Go Big!” — he’ll be sending Super Committee members a list of deficit reduction proposals that go way beyond the $1.5 trillion they’re aiming for, and hopes to use those extra savings to finance his jobs bill.
But this isn’t realistic if you listen to the members themselves, particularly Republicans.
“Going Big!” may be a laudable goal, but not one they’re likely to reach given the chasm between the parties.
“That’s going to be a very challenging thing to do,” committee member Dave Camp (R-MI), the chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, told reporters Wednesday. “If in fact we get there then I think you can maybe look and see what above and beyond that you can do. But at this point I don’t see us surpassing that requirement yet.”
“I’d like to focus on areas where we might find agreement,” Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) said at the panel’s Tuesday hearing. Those areas were improper Medicare provider payments and the sale of government property. Here’s what he heard from Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf: “There is no evidence that suggests that this sort of effort can represent a large share of the $1.2 trillion or $1.5 trillion or the larger numbers that some of you have discussed as being the objective in savings for this committee.”
These don’t sound like the makings of “Going Big!” Because “Going Big!” is short for “Grand Bargain” and “Grand Bargain” is short for a plan that includes higher taxes. And most Republicans aren’t prepared to go there.
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