It's become pretty clear that Republicans on that committee (and just as importantly, in the House) are not going to allow a deal that raises revenues to any significant degree. The proposals that do manage to cut out some loopholes also include making the Bush tax cuts permanent, even though they are due to expire after 2012. So essentially the GOP offer in the SC is to raise some taxes, while extending much more in permanent tax cuts, all in exchange for drastic cuts to domestic programs, Social Security, and Medicare. As you can imagine, I don't see this as much of a deal.
Liberals now have all the leverage- the Debt Ceiling deal that led to the SuperCommittee looks like a well- negotiated one for Democrats at this juncture. If Congress does absolutely nothing, taxes go up in 2013 and the medium-term budget problems are practically solved. And Democrats control the Senate and the Presidency. They're holding four aces.
So naturally they'll fold. Senator Kerry has been rumored to be considering the GOP deal in the SuperCommittee. President Obama could still veto of course, but his history of compromise doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.
Don't get me wrong- like the Democrats, I am willing to accept big cuts to domestic programs as well as the military. But I would accept those not because I believe we should cut, but because in politics one has to compromise and I realize that many don't share my values. But Democrats seem to have confused compromising with caving in. Democrats need to be firm in refusing to consider cuts that aren't accompanied by significant revenue increases- that's what compromise is. Let's see if they can stick to it.
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