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Here Comes the Super Committee

Next week, the Super Committee is set to hold hold a public “markup” hearing on a plan to cut budget deficits. We’re watching closely—and with concern. Even as the debate in the streets and neighborhoods across America is about job creation, inequality and economic justice, Washington D.C. is still stuck in a tired conversation about cutting programs and protecting tax loopholes.

There have been a number of proposals floated—all with flaws, all tilted too heavily towards cutting back on programs that help seniors and working people rather than asking the very wealthiest to contribute any more. And the terms seem to keep getting worse. Co-chair Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican, said he’d consider some small increase in net revenues (while keeping all the Bush tax rates in place)…if Democrats agree, in exchange, to privatize Medicare.

To express this as a metaphor, let’s say you and your friend Jeb decide you need to lose some weight. Your first proposal is to say “let’s make a habit of going to the gym.” Jeb’s first proposal is “let’s cut off your arms, to reduce the total weight between us.”  If Jeb’s next offer is “OK, we’ll go to the gym twice, but in exchange let’s cut off your arms below the elbow,” has he made a reasonable compromise? Is that “shared sacrifice?”

Thankfully, there’s some strong opposition building to what could be a bad deal from the Super Committee.

Yesterday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus held a hearing with economic experts to talk about jobs—including a strong warning to the Super Committee to consider the jobs impact of the policy changes they make.

This morning, a group of seniors has been on the Hill pressuring members of Congress to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, upon which millions depend, against what could be major cuts in benefits.  They were all over Congress to make their voices heard, including disrupting a fundraiser hosted by Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, a member of the Super Committee and of the Senate’s Republican leadership team. (The organization Social Security Works has a handy rundown of the Super Committee members and what Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid mean for their constituents.)

Even some members of the 1% weighed in to support a deal that works for the rest of us. Two dozen executives, calling themselves “Patriotic Millionaires,” visited the Capitol yesterday to ask that the Super Committee make getting more revenues from the very wealthiest a priority.

As I’m always saying, politics is about choices and priorities. The Super Committee is another opportunity for members of Congress to show where their priorities lie. Is it more important to protect the programs that keep seniors and the most vulnerable out of poverty, or is it more important to keep historically low taxes on the very wealthiest? Out in communities across the country, that’s a question with an easy answer. What about in Congress?

Photo by brownpau on Flickr, via Creative Commons

Tags: Health Care, Jobs, Retirement, Supercommittee