"In the first of what will be a closely watched selection process for a powerful new deficit panel, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he will appoint Democratic Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.), Max Baucus (Mont.) and John Kerry (Mass.) as his three choices for a super committee charged with finding more than $1 trillion in spending cuts by the end of this year.
..."The Joint Select Committee has been charged with forging the balanced, bipartisan approach to deficit reduction that the American people, the markets and rating agencies like Standard and Poor's are demanding," Reid said in a statement. "To achieve that goal, I have appointed three senators who each posses an expertise in budget matters, a commitment to a balanced approach and a track record of forging bipartisan consensus."
I wonder of Reid can say that while President Obama drinks a glass of water? I can assure you the six Republicans on the other side of the table will have no intention whatsoever of being all bi-partisany. That means if the committee is going to avoid a 6--6 deadlock one of these three Democrats is going to have to join them. Baucus is my odds-on favorite to fill that role.
And while all the very serious people in Washington are wringing their collective hands over the deficit and deciding what and how much to cut:
When asked by CNN what is the most important issue facing the country today, 60% said the economy, 16% said the federal budget deficit.
A CBS News/New York Times poll asked which should be the higher priority, cutting spending or creating jobs? 62% answered creating jobs, 29% said cutting spending.
But what do we know?
Update: The Republican side of the Politburo has been named:
"The GOP has announced its picks for the powerful deficit-reduction "supercommittee" established by the debt-ceiling deal.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has appointed Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.), Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) to serve on the panel. Hensarling will serve as the co-chairman of the supercomittee.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appointed his deputy, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), former Bush budget director Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Tea Party favorite Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.).The six conservative stalwarts picked for the supercommittee have all vowed to oppose tax increases, which appears to make it less likely that the group will go beyond its mandate to find $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts."
I confess...that was too easy wasn't it...I gotta be!
What are you, a Democrat? You capitulated too easily.
I fold...
That is amazing that you shoudl say that. I was having a discussion on this exact SAME subject with the the homeless guy in the left turn lane at Bellaire and Wilcrest just yesterday.
He said EXACTLY what you said. WOW!!! Homneless left turn guys smarter than ALL of our politicians in Washington. Ain' THAT a conundrum?
I'll SEE your Sociology text and RAISE you "Mourning Becomes Electra", "The Worldly Philosophers" by Heilbroner, and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."
Yeah, But he gave hard tests. And I didn't even open that book all semester.
I only really started felling down in late 2002. But since about February, I really got "da blues".
Hey Dug,
Tell that to the Repubtilians and their slave race.
This government is being soooooo shortsighted. People do not realize how slippery of a slope the World economy is on, and yes I will use the word "depression" is by no means out of the question now. The European debt crisis among other factors risks plunging us into a recession and experts are saying it could be much worse that 2008, when the entire financial system almost came apart. This would be an out and out depression. None of us have ever seen ANYTHING like this in our lifetime.
What this government is doing is the exact wrong thing in the face of this. We should be doing everything to avoid falling into chaos. Slashing trillions of dollars is going to slow economic growth, and make this nightmare more likely.
Carguy, I wouldn't be bragging about a B+ from Lyle. Mr. Lyle was a proud graduate of Texas A&M. Kind of like our guv.
Don't we get another 3? Who are the craziest f*ck leftwingers you can think of?
I'm impressed.
I'll take your civics book and raise you a sociology text... :O)
Hey Carguy,
Not to put a downer on you...but I've been feeling like that for about 30 years.
You saw the choices from the Republican side?
We are so f'ed.
Principles? Washington? Surely you jest.
Great quote from Jane Hamsher at FDL:
“When compromise becomes the goal in itself, it facilitates the abandonment of any other principle you might have had.”
If I may, MY feeling is not that the "Super Committee" is unconstitutional, but that having ANY legislation that automatically "kicks in" if it is not otherwise superceded IS unconstitutional. I got a B+ in Civics. I know, you're saying that's not impressive. But Mr. Lyle was a really hard teacher. Plus, I never studied or even took the book home. Now I bet you're impressd.
How we got here, into this depressing as hell major fustercluck from where we were in November of 2008, when we had all the hope in thw world so damn frustrating that I don't ever remember feeling this helpless and this pessimistic.
The democratic party has shown again they are "clueless and useless" by their miserable defeat in Wisconsin last night. They either picked the wrong districts, or picked the wrong candidates, or didn't send the right message or ALL three.
Without a "party" for labor, the unions, and the middle class to rally round, we are no better off than Harpo Marx at a hog calling contest. I guess we should get used to living under the "golden rule" here. "He who has the gold, makes the rules." Shit, we even have s Supreme Court that "confirmed" that for us.
Baucus will throw in with the republicans. Supposedly these 3 were picked because they are not up for re-election - yeah. I sure hope the ACLU will do a lawsuit declaring this "super committee" unconstitutional.
I don't know what we know, but I know that we apparently don't know how to elect people to Congress that will look out for our best interests, or focus on the real issues - like jobs and the economy.
We're really good at electing people that look out for each other and for their payoffs, er ... paychecks.