Some conservative Senate freshmen are leaving the door open to supporting the Gang of Six?s new deficit-reduction plan, a subtle sign that the proposal could pick up some momentum.
While the freshmen haven?t joined more than 30 of their Senate colleagues in signing a letter backing the plan, they didn?t criticize it either.
Continue ReadingMany of the tea party-inspired senators say they want to see more details about potential tax hikes before making up their minds.
?I?m still waiting to see how the plan materializes in terms of the concrete proposal. Right now it?s just a memo,? freshman Sen. Mike Lee, a co-founder of the Senate tea party caucus, told POLITICO on Wednesday.
?Based on everything I?ve seen so far, I?m not convinced one way or another that it doesn?t include a substantial tax increase, in which case it?s a nonstarter,? he said.
Fellow freshman Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), who along with Lee attended the gang?s Tuesday morning presentation, said she?s going to ?seriously look at it? but noted that senators haven?t been presented with any legislative language to review.
?I have concerns,? Ayotte, a Senate Budget Committee member, told POLITICO. ?My staff last night at a briefing with the [Gang of Six] staff had questions that couldn?t be answered because we don?t have the language yet, and I think that?s important.?
Another freshman, Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, expressed skepticism that the plan, which aims to slash the deficit by roughly $4 trillion over the next ten years, could be used as a framework for a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avert a government default by the Aug. 2 deadline.
The plan raises ?too many questions, not enough answers in the time frame we have to work with this month,? Blunt said. ?But the gang of six framework may have lots of satisfactory answers in September or October.?
The gang?s plan calls for $500 billion in immediate cuts ? what backers are calling a ?down payment? ? and would require Senate committees to identify $3.7 trillion in cuts through tax code reforms and reductions to discretionary spending and entitlement programs.
Several freshmen echoed concerns from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), who wrote Tuesday night that the plan ?appears to increase revenues by $2.8 trillion,? including $800 billion from tax hikes related to the health care law.
That?s prompted at least one Senate freshman to reject the plan out of hand.
?At the end of the day I am concerned about the tax piece of it,? Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.), the former Club for Growth president, told POLITICO. ?It does look like it?s a significant net tax increase and that?s problematic. I don?t think it works for me.?
But using the Congressional Budget Office baseline, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), a member of the gang, has said that the plan would include $1 trillion in revenue increases over the next decade while resulting in a net tax cut of $1.5 trillion. The CBO baseline assumes the Bush-era tax cuts will expire at the end of 2012.
Freshman Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) has been an ardent advocate for the Gang of Six, of which his fellow Illinois seatmate, Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, is a member. And rookie Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) praised the gang for putting forth a comprehensive, thoughtful plan, adding that it included elements he could support.
But he said he had only seen a two-page summary of the plan and needed to review it in greater detail before he could ever throw his support behind it.
?It?s not clear how the tax changes would be implemented, what the baseline they?re using is, and ultimately the impact it will have on the creation of jobs,? Rubio told POLITICO. ?If anything in that plan hurts the creation of jobs and economic growth, I can?t support it.?
Manu Raju contributed to this report.
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