Fox News features a piece claiming “Moderate Lawmakers Lead Insurrection, Urge Super Committee to Defy Leadership and Go Big.” Fox states: “As the Super Committee butts against a hard and fast deadline for reducing the deficit, a Republican and a Democratic lawmaker on Sunday say they must be willing to buck their leadership and go big on both cutting spending and adding revenues. Reps. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, and Heath Shuler, D-N.C., are leading a group of 100 representatives who crafted a letter to the Super Committee calling for all options to be laid on the table in the quest to shave the federal debt. They are urging the panel to go past its mandate of $1.2 trillion over 10 years and find $4 trillion in debt reduction.”
Following their appearance on Fox, Sam Husseini questioned Shuler and Simpson, asking: “Most Americans want to see an increase in taxes on the wealthy and corporations, ending the wars, and Congress doesn’t do that. Is that because Congress is basically bought and paid for?” See transcript and video.
JONATHAN TASINI, jtasini at economicfuturegroup.com
Tasini wrote the ebook It’s Not Raining, We’re Getting Peed On: The Scam of the Deficit Crisis. He recently wrote a piece “Capitulation: 60 House DEMOCRATS Embrace Austerity, Sign-Off on Medicare Cuts, Defunding Government,” which states: “In today’s installment of stupidity, crass political calculations and the desperate need to be inducted into the Washington Post’s circle of Very Serious People, I present to you a list of 60 House Democrats who now say they are willing to lock arms with the people who seek to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and a sane society–all in the name of embracing the phony deficit and debt “crisis”. What the hell is happening here?
“The Stupendously Stupid Sixty, who signed a letter, along with a band of Fanatically Foolish Forty Republicans, to the Catfood Commission II — also known as the ‘super committee’ — have essentially said, ‘we’re on board with cutting Medicare, funding for basic research, veterans benefits–as long as we also raise some taxes.'” Tasini says of the Democrats signing the letter: “The list is pretty much dominated by Blue Dog Democrats — but, without calling out people by name, you can see people who call themselves ‘liberals’ or even ‘progressives.'” The Democrats include Emanuel Cleaver, who had originally called the super committee a “Satan Sandwich.”
NANCY ALTMAN, njalt at aol.com
Altman is co-chair of the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition of over 300 national and state organizations representing more than 50 million Americans and author of the book “The Battle for Social Security: From FDR’s Vision to Bush’s Gamble.” She said today: “With the so-called super committee within weeks of its reporting deadline, the drumbeat for cuts in the nation’s most effective, important social programs is growing louder. Rather than cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, as well as other programs that provide a foundation of support to the nation’s lower and middle class, the government should be focused on putting people back to work on building bridges and other needed activities. But that is not what is happening; instead, Congress is poised to make cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid through an undemocratic, secretive, and accelerated process.”
