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Dem senator: Debt deal should focus on spending, not taxes
Sen. Ben Nelson, one of the more conservative Democrats in the upper chamber, has said that a deficit-reduction deal should focus on reducing spending, not finding new revenues.
The Nebraska Democrat also said in a Wednesday statement that he thought a significant plan to roll back deficits would not necessarily have to take aim at entitlement programs.
“I want to see a broad and serious package of spending cuts,” Nelson said. “And we can cut trillions of dollars of spending without attacking Medicare and Social Security. But if we start with plans to raise taxes, pretty soon spending cuts will fall by the wayside.”
But the statement also does not explicitly state that Nelson would vote against any plan that included tax increases or cuts to those entitlements. Officials are looking to negotiate a deficit deal that would allow the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling to be raised, something the Treasury Department says needs to be done by Aug. 2.
The comments from Nelson, who faces a potentially difficult reelection campaign in 2012, come as other Democrats in Washington are continuing to push for fresh revenues in any debt deal. The Senate is expected to vote this week on a nonbinding resolution that calls for taxpayers with yearly incomes of $1 million and above to play a bigger role in reducing deficits.
Nelson’s release says the senator does not support an approach that “balances the budget on the backs of seniors,” and also declares that “raising taxes at a time when our economy remains fragile takes us in the wrong direction.”
With less than a month to go until the debt-ceiling deadline, the senator also called on negotiators on both sides of the aisle to get serious.
“As usual in Washington these days, there are too many games being played,” he said. “They rival what you can buy at Toys-R-Us.”
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