Super Committee Today!

Super Committee Meets For First Time Today

As Super Committee meets today, TPM's Brian Beutler asks if Republicans will accept facts from CBO about cause of deficit: "...it will also pose the panel with its first and most basic test: whether its six Democrats and six Republicans can accept a single history of the country's large public debt as a starting point for reining it in ... it argues strongly for policies that ultimately reverse the revenue losses from Bush tax cuts, and then a debate over the best ways to make health care costs sustainable..."

Lobbyist converge on Super Committee. Politico: "The Defense and State departments — and their allies in Congress and on K Street — are warning that steep cuts could endanger national security. Powerful players in the health sector are calculating that they face less exposure if the supercommittee fails and automatic cuts to Medicare — limited to about 2 percent by the new debt-limit law — are imposed. Even Washington’s cottage industry of 'good government' groups are leaning on lawmakers to conduct the kind of public deliberations that some insiders think would make it impossible for the supercommittee to make a deal."

Super Committee members suggest tax reform will be handled under regular committees. The Hill: "...budget analysts are increasingly calling on the supercommittee to implement a two-step process for tax reform — perhaps accelerating the process and setting parameters themselves before placing a deadline for Finance and Ways and Means to hash out the details."

Another Super Committee hire increases chances of a deal, suggests W. Post's Ezra Klein: "...the lead Republican staffer knows taxes and the lead Democratic staffer knows entitlements. It’s a sign that the two sides are at least thinking about the relevant compromises they’re going to need to make if the committee is going to succeed."