Super Committee Members

Members of the Super committee:

Democrats:

• Patty Murray (D-Wash.) (Co-Chair)
• Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.)
• Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
• Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
• John Kerry (D-Mass.)

Republicans:

• Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
• Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)
• Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
• Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) (Co-chair)
• Dave Camp (R-Mich.)
• Fred Upton (R-Mich.)

Analysis

Toomey is probably the most right wing of the Republican committee members, having once led the vehemently anti-tax Club for Growth.

In Camp, Upton, Kyl and Portman, the lobbyist saw chances for compromise.

Many liberals see Baucus as most likely to side with Republicans, but one Senate leadership aide suggested instead that Baucus would be a tough advocate for the Democratic position. The Medicare lobbyist noted that Baucus is likely to be protective of both Social Security and the health insurance reform law that he was instrumental in writing.

JPMorgan Chase has already estimated the initial deal to raise the debt limit will shave a point and a half off the GDP.

Analysis provided by Center for American Progress

Co-Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (TX):

• Repeatedly making false claims about the deficit and debt
• “Falsely characteriz[ing] the debt limit fight as a consequence of spending policies enacted by President Obama and past Democratic congresses”
• Called Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid “cruel Ponzi schemes”
• Believes that recessions are just “a part of freedom”
• Has said corporate tax dodging is a good reason to cut the corporate tax rate
• Consistently carries water for Wall Street’s biggest banks, saying that bank profits should trump consumer protection

Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ):

• Number two Republican in the Senate and takes a hard line on taxes
• Member on: Committee on Finance and Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight
• Member on the Subcommittees on Health Care and Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy
• Walked away from debt ceiling negotiations because Democrats wanted to raise taxes on those who make more than $500,000/year; insisted there should not be a dime of increased revenues
• Strongly defended tax subsidies for oil companies
• Opposed ending an accounting gimmick that deprives the Treasury of up to $72 billion over the next five years in corporate taxes
• Staunch defender of military spending and is not afraid to twist arms to get it. He held up the START treaty and extension of the Bush tax cuts late last year to extract more money for nuclear weapons
• Voted to privatize Social Security and supported the House Republican budget, which would effectively end Medicare.
• To his credit, he said he did not support tying an increase in the debt ceiling to a Balanced Budget Amendment.

Sen. Pat Tommey (PA):

• Believes that tax cuts don’t actually cost anything, telling Fox News that “it’s not clear” that extending the Bush tax cuts and cutting corporate taxes would decrease revenues.
• Favors of privatizing Social Security because he believes that “personal [Social Security] accounts lead to personal prosperity”
• Supports the budget passed by House Republicans (which would effectively eliminate Medicare) and released his own budget proposal that would turn Medicaid into a block grant, severely slash domestic discretionary spending, and likely result in a big tax increase on the middle-class that would fund tax reductions for the rich and corporations
• Supports cuts to defense spending

Sen. Rob Portman (OH):

• President Bush put Portman in charge of his Office of Management and Budget to meet “our goal to cutting the budget deficit in half by 2009.” Under Portman’s watch, the deficit nearly tripled.
• Entertained defaulting as an “opportunity to get our fiscal house in order”
• Supports privatizing Social Security to bail out bad investors and voted in 2005 to divert Social Security dollars to create private accounts.
• Believes that “spending, not tax cuts, causes future deficits”
• “Any tax increase would hurt the fragile economy.”
• Continually advocated to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and is pushing to balance the budget in 10 years without a single tax increase.
• Stated he would support defense cuts as “the Pentagon has to be part of the discussion”
• Chief architect of GOP’s Job Plan: more cuts for capital gains and dividends
• Open to some “revenue enhancements” (code work for raising taxes on middle class)

Rep. Dave Camp (MI):

• Lower chamber’s chief tax writer and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman
• Declared that he’d rather have a bigger deficit than see taxes go up on “rich people”
• Believes the poor could pay more taxes.
• Believes preserving or pursuing tax cuts — like the Bush tax cuts — will further increase the deficit
• Wary of a tax repatriation holiday
• Declared tax increases “off the table” on Obama’s previous debt commission
• Likely to push a balanced budget amendment and the other disastrous cuts he backed in the House Republican “Cut, Cap, and Balance” plan
• For entitlement programs, Camp wavered and then voted in support of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan to end Medicare

Rep. Fred Upton (MI):

• Backed the radical House Republican budget, the even more radical “Cut, Cap, and Balance” plan (which would take spending to a level not seen since the 1960s), and a balanced budget constitutional amendment.
• Position on revenues is a bit wishy-washy: He has said tax increases are “just not going to be part of the equation,” but has not ruled out tax reform that lowers rates but brings in more revenue through the elimination of tax loopholes and credits

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA)

• Member of tax-writing Ways and Means Committee
• Was a member of last year's Bowles-Simpson deficit reduction panel but dissented from the panel's final recommendations, arguing they hurt social programs too much.

Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)

• Second-ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee
• Long-time member of the Appropriations Committee
• Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee