Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that any deal to avert the sequester must include new revenue through closing tax loopholes. The same applies to the budget and any deal to raise the debt ceiling.
In an interview with ABC’s “This Week” aired Sunday, Reid affirmed his commitment to new revenue in any upcoming deal.
“So your position on lifting the sequester, on avoiding a government shutdown, and on extending the debt limit beyond August is any one of those deals must include new revenues?” host George Stephanopoulos asked.
“Yes, the answer is definitely yes,” Reid said. “And I’ve got a pretty good fan base for that: the American people, Republicans, Democrats and independents.”
Discussing where new revenue could come from, Reid name-checked Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, reminding Republicans who now say they oppose any new revenue that there are Republican ideas on the table for where the money could come from.
We need to keep our eye on the prize and continue doing something about spending, but I think that what we need to do is do some of the things that Mitt Romney talked about. He said there’s some low-hanging fruit; there are a lot of tax loopholes that should be closed. I agree with him. We haven’t done that.
