GOP member of supercommittee leaves door open to raising revenue

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) on Wednesday left the door open to allowing some revenue to be raised as part of the final package produced by the deficit-cutting supercommittee of which he is a member.  

"I don't want to get into the hypotheticals yet," Upton said when he was asked by Western Michigan University Public Radio WMUK whether he would agree to a 10-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to revenue raisers. "[W]e are going to be looking at this with a lot of debate. I don't want to put something to the side."

“I want more revenue in that we help the economy move forward," Upton added. "[W]e will have to number crunch this stuff as we go and try to make a decision.”

Upton also left open the possibility of pushing some of the more drastic cuts back on the timeline as the economy remains shaky.

"You really are not bound by a short-term number," said Upton referring to the mandate of the supercommittee. "You are bound only by the ten-year number.”

The debt-ceiling deal signed into law earlier in the month establishes the bipartisan, bicameral supercommittee of 12 legislators. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) selected Upton and two others for the panel.

The committee is charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit-reduction measures.