Republicans Are Endangering National Security
By WILLIAM S. COHEN
NYT
Washington
It was good news two weeks ago that Republican leaders had finally crossed the antitax line they had drawn in the sand, by offering $300 billion in net tax increases as part of a debt-reduction deal. But the news was not good enough. The amount offered did not approach bridging the gap with Democrats, and Republicans needed to go much farther to avert the possibility of disastrous cuts to our military strength.
Their failure to do so is directly responsible for Monday’s failure of the “supercommittee,” created by Congress as part of the debt-limit deal. Its task was to put forward a bipartisan package of spending cuts and tax hikes to cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion, and to meet its deadline early this week. Unless there is a last-minute change of heart, the failure points to draconian cuts that include deep slashes in military spending. They would come into effect automatically, drying up funds needed for defense as early as 2013.
Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the Republican co-chairman of the committee, declared last week that Republicans had “gone as far as we feel we can go” on tax increases. And it is not clear that Republican leaders could sell even the $300 billion tax increase to their rank and file. On Nov. 4, a group of 33 Republican senators sent a letter to members of the committee warning that any deal must have “no net tax increase.”
In the House, members of the Republican Study Committee circulated a letter insisting that “repeal of any tax credit or deduction must be offset with an equal or greater tax credit.”
(More here.)
NYT
Washington
It was good news two weeks ago that Republican leaders had finally crossed the antitax line they had drawn in the sand, by offering $300 billion in net tax increases as part of a debt-reduction deal. But the news was not good enough. The amount offered did not approach bridging the gap with Democrats, and Republicans needed to go much farther to avert the possibility of disastrous cuts to our military strength.
Their failure to do so is directly responsible for Monday’s failure of the “supercommittee,” created by Congress as part of the debt-limit deal. Its task was to put forward a bipartisan package of spending cuts and tax hikes to cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion, and to meet its deadline early this week. Unless there is a last-minute change of heart, the failure points to draconian cuts that include deep slashes in military spending. They would come into effect automatically, drying up funds needed for defense as early as 2013.
Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the Republican co-chairman of the committee, declared last week that Republicans had “gone as far as we feel we can go” on tax increases. And it is not clear that Republican leaders could sell even the $300 billion tax increase to their rank and file. On Nov. 4, a group of 33 Republican senators sent a letter to members of the committee warning that any deal must have “no net tax increase.”
In the House, members of the Republican Study Committee circulated a letter insisting that “repeal of any tax credit or deduction must be offset with an equal or greater tax credit.”
(More here.)
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