Yes, the bosom Gang of Six is back together, and Obama and Dems have played Coburn, Chambliss and Crapo today (once again), distracting from the ONLY responsible action taking place in the House. The Hill reports, “President Obama joined Democratic and Republican senators Tuesday in offering support for a $3.7 trillion deficit-reduction plan” that is said to “reduce the deficit by $3.7 trillion over the next 10 years and increase tax revenues by $1 trillion by closing a variety of special tax breaks and havens.”
Further into this report, you’ll see that “74 percent of the plan’s deficit-reduction goal would come from spending cuts and 26 percent from higher revenues.” Tax hikes, folks…there it is. That’s why Obama and Dems have signed on. Rest assured, the spending cuts will have contingencies that won’t hold any accountability for following through, while the tax hikes will be implemented immediately, as The American Spectator speculates:
“Perhaps the reason the Gang of Six plan is politically viable is that is mostly a promise to make cuts in the future, rather than a measure to cut spending now. The plan would only cut about $500 billion immediately, and most of that would be spending already agreed to by all sides…The plan is intended to increase revenues both by leading to higher economic growth and by cutting tax preferences and loopholes more than tax rates…The vast majority of the spending reductions would be left up to Democratic-chaired committees to determine, to be worked out after the debt ceiling is raised.”
And picking up from this, a Washington Examiner article further delves into how this plan could add up to over $3 trillion in tax hikes over the current rates!
This is the same old trick that Dems pulled on Reagan in the ‘80’s. And knowing that, many Senate Republicans who sign onto this are blatantly illustrating their desire to enable the statists rather than stand up for the People. Factoring into the deceit, The Spectator article illustrates how Coburn unsuccessfully attempts to cover himself by nonchalantly proposing a $9 trillion debt reduction plan just yesterday, then quickly rejoined the Gang of Six to sign onto this new plan today. Seriously?! Apparently Coburn is more buddy-buddy with Obama than previously thought.
So, is this the compromise between Cut, Cap & Balance and the McConnell plan? If so, it’s weak, unserious, and as Moody’s reports to Reuters that the McConnell plan won’t save us from defaulting on our debt, neither will this Gang of Six proposal.
Perhaps this is just another distraction tactic to derail serious solutions, but we must reinforce the House Republicans' resilience by sending the message that they must remain united on the Cut, Cap & Balance approach as leverage now and not fall for new taxes proposed by the President or those who would undermine in the Senate.
ADDENDUM: Levin condemns McConnell and Coburn!
