A Super Supercommittee
The list is out! From The Hill:
The GOP has announced its picks for the powerful "supercommittee" established to find $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) 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 co-chairman.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appointed his deputy, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a Budget director in the George W. Bush administration, and Tea Party favorite Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).
From the Senate side, this is a surprisingly aggressive (and cheering) list -- Portman knows his way around the federal budget, and Toomey is a true spending hawk, and what's better, both are freshman senators. Not yet bloated and slow-moving with pork and perks.
This is where it gets interesting. Harry Reid named his team yesterday:
Reid appointed Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
Pelosi, as usual, is a little bit behind. So far, though, I like our starting team.
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Jul '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Hmmm. No Paul Ryan. But Pat Toomey works for me. Portman has the experience but does he appreciate the jeopardy of the day? And John Kerry is there to serve as the designated slanderbot/full service disinformation officer, as always.
Sep '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Except for Toomey I see establishment Republicans. Toomey got stabbed in the back by Bush and hopefully has learned his lesson. The rest, while conservative, might well decide to put what they consider good for the GOP, before what is best for the country. I can see why Republicans might be cheering, but see little reason why the Tea Party should be rejoicing.
Oct '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
According to Ryan, he asked Boehner to leave him off the committee so he could work on things through the House Budget committee, which he chairs.
So it's not a slight against him.
Doesn't sound like the choices are too bad, overall.
May '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Don't get too far ahead of yourself, liberal jim. Hensarling is a solid choice, although Upton does concern me a good bit. Rob's right to especially like the Senate side choices. Toomey is about as good as I could have hoped for and Portman is excellent. Kyl has had a skillful and solidly conservative legislative career, and he's retiring - so he doesn't need to hold back in hopes of keeping his seat. I'd like to have the House freshmen represented, too, but if we're going to play along with this dog-and-pony show, we have to put people in the room that have some muscle so the others will listen. The freshmen don't have the muscle; they can speak as long and as loud as they want to the rest of the committee, but aren't in a position to throw their weight behind anything when everyone ignores them and moves on. Hensarling, Upton and Kyl have muscle.
May '11
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Kerry and Murray are as bad as could be, but Baucus gives the Republic some reason to hope for at least one Dem vote for sanity.
Mar '11
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Hmmm. No Paul Ryan. He requested to not be on the committee. Says the Budget Committee will be busy with budget process reforms this fall. Sounds like he's going after The Budget Act of 1974, which is an excellent use of his time. I'm pretty happy with these picks.
Apr '11
Re: A Super Supercommittee
I'm wondering how much the lack of tea-party freshmen from the House are a way of keeping that talking point off the table for dems. W/o those guys in there, they won't be able to use the "Tea Party are holding things up" mantra they've played the past 10 days.
May '11
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Fred "Lightbulb" Upton is a big government Republican. THe last thing we need is more of those steering this thing, even though the "cuts" won't be cuts, but just cuts in the rate of increase. Can we please stop calling them cuts?
May '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Predictions for Pelosi's contribution to the Committee to End All Committees? I'm assuming we're still supposed to play along with leftist insistence that Barney Frank is not a sickening farce of a man...
More importantly, is anyone genuinely optimistic about outcomes? The left wants defense cuts and tax hikes, as they always have - and there are no shortage of people willing to carry water for that agenda. I liked Boehner's final debt deal as a best-case scenario* but still don't expect real change until January 2013.
* If you still think default would have been dandy, look at the markets this week, amplify the market reaction, and imagine unified Democrat / media blame on conservatism from here until November 2012!
Feb '11
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Oh.
Fred Upton scourge of light bulbs. And the retiring John Kyl.
Great. Those choices don't give me a good feeling.
Nothing I've ever heard about Upton makes me think he'll go to the mat to stop tax increases. Or even anywhere near to the icky dirty mat. Quite the opposite.
Kyl is a good senator but he won't have to face the voters again. Is he really going to go the the brink and beyond to get real, actual cuts? Or will he go along with a few trillion in tax hikes to "save" social security and medicare in exchange for shaving a sliver off expected growth in government - and then retire with endless accolades from the media?
We'll see. But I've been disappointed before.
Aug '11
Re: A Super Supercommittee
@Jason Hart: Krauthammer has been strangely upbeat about the prospects for the committee. I say "strangely" because he is usually the most pessimistic of conservatives, with exception of Thomas Sowell.
No one seems happy with Upton, here or elsewhere. My guess is he's there to cover the "bipartisan crossover" appeal, i.e., "Hey, this guy is no stranger to spending beyond our means, and even HE wants a cuts-only approach!"
I didn't want to see any Tea Party fish on the commission. Like ctruppi said, that's just a talking point for the DNC to use as defense for refusing anything that doesn't raise taxes. Also, by picking establishment candidates, the GOP has shown that the commission is merely an extension of GOP congressional leadership. There's no independence on either side really. The whole thing is a proxy fight, from what I can tell.
Which is why Krauthammer's optimism is so strange to me..?
Nov '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
I'm sick about this whole 'super committee' thing no matter who sits on it. Special committees are never anything more than a vehicle to make decisions that allows politicians to take credit if there's an upside but to deny any involvement if it's a fiasco.
And to pile on the insults to the electorate's intelligence, this one isn't just a committee, it's a "Super" committee. What the heck does that mean? Do they all walk around in capes and tights? Do bullets bounce off them? Or what?
Sep '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
I guess you still are impressed by the "we'll make worse more slowly" Republican party. They gave Obama a 2.7T. check, now they're in the process of giving him his tax hike. I would not be surprised to see more spending being attached to what comes out of this farce. This is all about 2012 for the Democrats. They will not make any serious reductions and will not touch entitlements. Hope you enjoy your GOP cool aide.
May '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Owl of Minerva: [...]
I didn't want to see any Tea Party fish on the commission. Like ctruppi said, that's just a talking point for the DNC to use as defense for refusing anything that doesn't raise taxes. [...]
I wish I could agree, but refer to the AP story "Debt panel members prompt doubts." What doubts, and on account of which members, the AP does not say - another gold standard in reportage, this. But the writer makes sure to mention that Toomey was elected "with Tea Party backing."
I've got a copy of Time sitting in the kitchen with "HOW THE TEA PARTY HIJACKED AMERICA" blaring next to the cover art of Washington with a black eye. The Narrative will be pushed, and reality can come along for the ride if it wants to!
Dec '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Pleasantly surprised describes my hope, not my expectation.
May '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Reid's picks (Kerry and Murray) almost guarantee gridlock and partisan sniping. It seems fairly obvious the Democrats have chosen "gridlocked Tea Party extremism" as their campaign theme for 2012.
Edited on Aug 10, 2011 at 3:23pmSep '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
Super-Committee? Ryan is really holding out for a spot on the Super-Duper committee
May '10
Re: A Super Supercommittee
liberal jim
I guess you still are impressed by the "we'll make worse more slowly" Republican party. They gave Obama a 2.7T. check, now they're in the process of giving him his tax hike. I would not be surprised to see more spending being attached to what comes out of this farce. This is all about 2012 for the Democrats. They will not make any serious reductions and will not touch entitlements. Hope you enjoy your GOP cool aide. · Aug 10 at 1:24pm
Now, now. I haven't had Kool Aid in years - too much sugar. And you will see from my post that I'm clearly not starry eyed over the entire panel (especially Upton). Nevertheless, this panel is a very good group to take into what I agree is a very bad process.