–In Letters To Key Panel, GOP and Dems Stick Close To Talking Points
–Republicans on Senate Finance Panel Urge Repeal of Health Care Law
–Democrats on Ways & Means Urge Passage of Obama Jobs Plan

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – During the heart of the Cold War, American
diplomats offered a concise assessment of the Soviet Union’s approach to
negotiations between the world’s two superpowers.

The Soviet stance was, they said,: “What’s mine, is mine. What’s
yours, is negotiable.”

Democratic and Republican leaders continue to take this kind of
stance as it pertains to the final recommendations of Congress’s Joint
Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.

Democratic and Republican leaders appointed the 12 members of the
deficit panel and by all accounts they selected lawmakers whom they were
confident would adhere to the party line and not be tempted into
bipartisan negotiations that required major concessions in party fiscal
stances.

Republican leaders have said that the focus of the deficit panel
should be on getting savings from entitlement programs, especially
Medicaid and Medicare.

Democratic leaders have said the panel should construct a balanced
deficit reduction plan that includes revenue increases and “protects”
key safety net programs.

While there is presumably some flexibility displayed in the panel’s
private talks, party leaders continue to take a tough, implacable public
line.

The clearest example of this are the deficit reduction ideas that
were offered by Congress’s key committees last week. Because of deep
partisan divisions, most panels did not submit a single report, but the
Democratic and Republican members of each committee offered their own
ideas.

And these ideas embrace an approach to deficit negotiations that
Soviet hardliners would recognize — and possibly admire.

For example, the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee sent a
letter to the two chairs of the deficit panel, Democratic Senator Patty
Murray and Republican Congressman Jeb Hensarling, that essentially
restates long-held GOP positions.

It urges the panel to back the repeal of the new health care law
that President Obama spent more than a year pushing through Congress.
“Financed with over $1 trillion in new taxes and massive cuts to the
Medicare program, this new law not only expands existing entitlement
programs, but also creates new unsustainable ones,” the Republican
senators write.

Additionally, the Republican senators on the Finance Committee call
for converting Medicaid into block grants, overhauling the medical
malpractice system and considering means testing of Medicare.

These are policies that Obama and congressional Democrats are
almost certain to oppose. (Obama has said that he could support some
means testing of Medicare as part of a broad deficit reduction plan that
also included additional revenues.)

On the other hand, the Democrats on the House Ways and Means
Committee, urged the deficit panel to embrace policies that the GOP has
long opposed.

In their letter, House Democrats urged the panel to back President
Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan, the same plan that was rejected by
Senate Republicans last week.

They also say the panel should craft a deficit reduction plan that
both reduces spending and increases taxes. “We cannot address our
deficit and debt through spending cuts alone,” they write.

They also urge the panel to avoid deep cuts in health care
entitlements. “Our first priority in the health arena must be to protect
Americans’ health coverage and access to care, including existing
coverage under Medicare, Medicaid, and the expansions in the Affordable
Care Act,” they write.

It remains unclear how — or if — this fiscal chasm between the
two parties will ever be bridged.

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is charged to
submit a report to Congress by Nov. 23, 2011 that reduces the deficit by
between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion for the 2012 and 2021 period.

The final package, if one is agreed to by the majority of the
panel’s 12 members, must be voted on without amendment by the House and
Senate by Dec. 23, 2011.

If the panel fails to agree on a spending cut package or Congress
rejects its plan, a budget enforcement trigger would secure $1.2
trillion in budget savings through across-the-board cuts.

The cuts would be equally divided between defense and non-defense
programs but would exempt Social Security, Medicaid and low-income
programs.

The panel has held three public hearings: its organizational
meeting on Sept. 8, a budget overview hearing on Sept. 13 with
Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf and a revenue
overview on Sept. 22 with Thomas Barthold, the chief of staff of
Congress’s Joint Tax Committee.

But in the last several weeks, the 12-person panel has been meeting
several times a week in often lengthy private sessions. Members have
left those sessions tight-lipped, saying nothing that might provide a
hint about where the panel is headed.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

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