As Democrats demand tax concessions from Republicans to avert a collision over the government’s budget, Senate Democratic leaders are signaling that they may be willing to trade an entitlement program overhaul to secure a deal to rein in the national debt.
Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, said he might reluctantly be open to expanding means- testing for Medicare eligibility -- charging more to higher- income seniors. New York Senator Chuck Schumer said he wouldn’t rule out changing entitlements, challenging Republicans to come up with specific proposals.
Republicans “want something to put up on the wall and say, ‘OK, we gave on taxes, they gave on’” entitlements, Durbin said in an interview late yesterday. “We may end up facing it as the only way out of this.”
The newfound flexibility could be a sign that both parties are edging toward a compromise to avert what has been labeled a fiscal cliff -- a Jan. 1 surge of more than $600 billion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts that could propel the nation into recession.
Not everyone is convinced.
With President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner -- the chief Republican negotiator -- not disclosing any progress in their private talks, Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, said: “It doesn’t appear to me that they’re going anywhere. And that’s too bad.”
Senate Sparring
In the Senate yesterday, Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, sparred over Obama’s proposal to give himself authority to raise the federal debt ceiling without approval by Congress. McConnell sought a vote on the proposal, though he retreated by threatening a filibuster after Democrats determined that they had the 51 votes necessary to pass the bill.
McConnell “hasn’t learned that this is not 2010 anymore. There’s no hay to be made by playing politics with the debt limit,” said Schumer.
Reid, McConnell and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, have been excluded from the negotiations, leaving it to Boehner and Obama alone to find a deal, said a Republican aide who requested anonymity when discussing the negotiations. According to another Republican aide, having the more partisan minority leaders from both chambers as participants in similar talks last year wasn’t constructive.