"Fiscal Conservatives" aka. Teabagger Whackos Will Be "Barred from Supercommittee"

[ClarkUSA]

Three Republican Senate sources tell TWS that senators who vote against the deal will be ineligible to serve on the so-called “supercommittee” for deficit reduction that the legislation creates.

Excluding those who vote against the debt deal will ensure that some of the most fiscally conservative members of the Senate Republican caucus, including most of its freshmen, will be reading about the committee’s activities in the newspaper rather than guiding its decisions. Among those who have already declared their opposition to the deal: libertarian-leaning senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul; Jim DeMint, the aggressive fiscal hawk from South Carolina; conservative reformers Ron Johnson from Wisconsin and Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania; the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, Jeff Sessions; and Florida’s Marco Rubio, already one of the highest-profile conservatives in Congress.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/fiscal-conservatives-barred-supercommittee_581921.html

[scheming daemons]

1. Cool... no Rand Paul, no Demint, no Graham, no Toomey

....but also no Bernie Sanders.

[ClarkUSA]

2. Well, Sanders can rest easy that he "embraced" Mitch McConnell's proposal which originated this idea

I'm sure Democrats can muddle through without him. I'm hoping Senator Patrick Leahy and Senator Al Franken will serve on this committee. They were the first ones to send out statements of support for this debt deal.

[Zen Democrat]

13. I'd pick Franken, Boxer and Whitehouse.

[Rectangle]

21. Sherrod Brown too! eom

[tosh]

3. I so hope this is true.

I hope this applies to House members as well.

I've wondered how these "supercommittee" members would be chosen

[fredamae]

4. I'm not gullible enuf to believe any of them anymore

I still believe in Sen Sanders, Sen Brown and Sen Merkley---so far

[DJ13]

5. None of the big names would want to be on it anyway

Once they slash SS and Medicare the Congress members who serve on that committee will be looking at losing their next election.

[ClarkUSA]

7. FYI: SS and Medicare benefits are exempt from all cuts. Ditto re: many programs for the poor.

Any trigger will affect SS & Medicare providers ONLY. Most likely, federal agencies would be hardest hit next to defense.

[jtown1123]

12. You keep posting this and it's not true. Exempt from trigger, yes, the Committee? No

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2011/August/02/super-committee.aspx

[ClarkUSA]

14. You're wrong. The WH fact sheet and several political analysts all concur on this fact.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. You're wrong. The WH fact sheet does not put limits on what the committee can consider

To Meet This Target, the Committee Will Consider Responsible Entitlement and Tax Reform. This means putting all the priorities of both parties on the table – including both entitlement reform and revenue-raising tax reform.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheet-victory-bipartisan-compromise-economy-american-people

It says the Republicans can put forward all their priorities, including 'entitlement reform'. As for analysts:

Advocates for seniors and lobbyists for the health care industry are worried that Round Two of the budget battle, beginning this fall, could lead to cuts that raise costs for beneficiaries and squeeze providers such as hospitals, doctors, insurers and drug companies.

Nothing will be off limits for a powerful new congressional committee created under the deal to scour the budget for savings. That includes the two giant health care programs for 100 million Americans, the elderly, low-income people, and long-term nursing home residents.
...
"The story isn't over," said Joe Baker, president of the Medicare Rights Center, a New York-based advocacy group. "The future of the programs really hangs in the balance. It could lead to deep cuts and irreversible changes to Medicare and Medicaid that shift costs to beneficiaries."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hB1BYAzoBGSIimr6mwrpbwm3steQ?docId=986070e538ae4e34999ff0e15ab9209e

But major benefit cuts seem likely to emerge from the second phase of this process. A 12-member Congressional committee must identify another $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, bringing the total deal to $2.4 trillion in cuts over 10 years. That group will have a November 23rd deadline to finish its work, which will then go to an up-or-down vote – no modifications allowed – by Dec. 23rd.
...
The enormous pressure to identify $2.4 trillion in cuts boosts the odds that Social Security benefit cuts will be proposed. Re-stating what I’ve said so many times: this would be unfair and unwise. Social Security doesn’t contribute to the deficit, and it will be a critical source of support for recession-ravaged seniors in the decades ahead.

The most likely cutting tactic is the chained CPI measure of cost-of-living adjustments (COLA). This is the only way to get near-term savings from Social Security, since it reduces benefits for current retirees. By contrast, a higher retirement age would have to be phased in over many years.

http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-money/2011/08/02/social-security-medicare-dodge-bullet-but-cuts-loom/

The Joint Committee is charged with finding $1.5 trillion in savings over 10 years. The trigger would only cut $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The Joint Committee is likely to cut Social Security, Medicaid and a host of programs Democrats aren’t going to want to touch if taxes aren’t part of the deal. The trigger exempts Social Security and Medicaid, and $1 out of every $2 in cuts comes from the Pentagon. The Joint Committee is likely to cut a deal without revenue, and Democrats will have to explain to their base why they permitted, say, Medicare cuts while letting the GOP reject tax increases. The trigger lets Democrats blame Republicans for protecting the wealthy in the 2012 election.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/will-democrats-prefer-the-trigger/2011/07/11/gIQA8yxqnI_blog.html

[ClarkUSA]

16. "Enforcement protects Social Security, Medicare beneficiaries, & low-income programs from any cuts"

http://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheet-victory-bipartisan-compromise-economy-american-people

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. "Exempt from trigger, yes, the Committee? No". Why bother quoting what the trigger rules are?

That wasn't at issue. This thread is about the committee. Check the OP if you don't believe me.

[ClarkUSA]

18. "Likewise, any cuts to Medicare would be capped and limited to the provider side."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheet-victory-bipartisan-compromise-economy-american-people

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. Do you bother reading people's posts, or do you just write the first thing that comes into your head

Is there any point whatsoever in me trying to have a conversation with you? You know very well that you are still quoting conditions of the trigger, not the committee deliberations. Do you think any DUer at all will pay the slightest bit of attention to you if you're being so irrelevant to the thread? I suggest to you that you will get a reputation for being a boring red herring whose posts will never be worth reading, if you continue like this. You're hurting yourself.

[ClarkUSA]

24. I am quoting the WH Fact Sheet. You're making false accusations.

Nothing in the WH Fact Sheet says SS or Medicare benefits will be under any consideration for cuts in the supercommittee. What do you think "Responsible Entitlement Reform" in Section 3 is code for? Do you really think the WH or Democrats in Congress will for one minute allow SS/Medicare benefits to be cut? If you do, then you're the one whose reputation will be at stake. Your snide insults reveal more about you than me.

If you want to believe MSM whore spin, go ahead. I'd rather go to the source and use my own judgment, which is far better than yours, it seems.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. "all the priorities of both parties on the table – including both entitlement reform

...and revenue-raising tax reform". Yes, that section I already quoted in reply #15. That's what "Responsible Entitlement Reform" is. Which means Republicans are allowed to bring up Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid cuts.

"Do you really think the WH or Democrats in Congress will for one minute allow SS/Medicare benefits to be cut?"

Well, seeing as some Democrats have already talked about raising the starting age for Social Security payments, then you'd have to be fantastically naive to think that they would never allow it.

I was the one who went to the source; and showed your claims were wrong. You then kept quoting the wrong parts of it. Your judgement has been crap in this thread so far.

[markpkessinger]

23. You mean the White House Spin Sheet?

...that thing that read like something the Bush Admin. might have written (with about the same level of credibility)?

[ClarkUSA]

25. All you offer are petty insults. Are you going to vote for the Democratic President in 2012? Hmm?

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. Coburn and Chambliss voted against the bill for not going far enough

they aren't teabaggers.

[ClarkUSA]

8. If it quacks like a duck...

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. RLOL sorry, thus great comedy is now part of the routine

In DC.

[Llewlladdwr]

10. Looks like it's not true...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60492.html

[ClarkUSA]

11. McConnell now says anyone can serve. He caved. Looks like he'll be conducting "interviews" now.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60492.html

[fredamae]

22. He never intended to keep his word n/t

[truebrit71]

20. Yeah, I highly doubt that...

...

[Forkboy]

26. I hope they pick some Republicans we can trust!

Oh, wait....

[neverforget]

27. Whoever the Republicans pick are going to vote lock step with the Party

line. If they don't, they'll get T-Bagged