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Roll Call: Getting to Yes — the Case for a Centrist ‘Super Committee’

Former Rep. John Tanner calls on legislative leaders to “throw partisanship out the window”:

“The key to compromise, and success, is the word “yes.” “Yes, we can agree to that.” “Yes, we can live with that.” America, and the rest of the world that relies on our economy, was saved from the brink of uncertain economic disaster not by partisan ideologues who wake up in the morning finding ways to say “no,” but by the coalition of brave moderate Democratic and Republican Members in the House and Senate who were intent on getting to “yes.” “Now we come to the part of the process where each side gets to pick its members for the “super committee.”

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) each select three members to serve on the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with returning a legislative proposal to Congress by Thanksgiving that will accomplish the goal of an additional $1.5 trillion trim to the deficit, lest the trigger mechanism is invoked.

“The goal of deficit reduction is one with which no one disagrees. Of course, each side has priorities it will vigorously fight to protect and has already claimed are non-negotiable, prematurely hogtying the opportunity for compromise.

“Sadly, the partisan priorities that so deeply entrench the left and right wings of the political spectrum will be exactly the force that ends in failure of the super committee.” Read the full op-ed here.

 

2011-08-09 00:00:00
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