McCain: Revenues on table, but GOP skeptical

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that a proposed joint deficit committee should discuss fresh revenues — but added that he did not believe Republicans would get on board with tax increases.

The Arizona Republican, who backs the compromise debt-ceiling legislation the Senate is poised to vote on today, also predicted the measure would pass. McCain also sounded cautiously optimistic that the 12-lawmaker panel set up by the bill would be able to find some common ground.

“Once they sit down and start negotiating and realize if they report out they cannot get an agreement, that is a reflection on them as well,” McCain told Bloomberg Television. “I believe there are enough mature, thoughtful individuals that we can come to an agreement.”

“If we cannot, we cannot come to agreement on anything,” the Arizona lawmaker added. “Which may be true.”

The debt-ceiling bill locks in $1 trillion in spending cuts over a decade in exchange for an immediate hike in the $14.3 trillion debt limit, with the deficit panel tasked with finding an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts. 

Democrats are poised to push for fresh revenues on that panel, perhaps by closing tax preferences for the oil-and-gas industry, corporate jet owners and in other areas. But Republicans pushed back on that idea on Monday, as did McCain in his Bloomberg interview. 

“Everything should be on the table,” McCain said. “I am sure that Republicans are committed to not raising taxes. I do not think that anybody who really adheres to strong fiscal conservative principles believes we should raise taxes.”

The Arizona senator also predicted that the debt-ceiling bill will pass the House. But there is some question over whether a higher percentage of Senate Republicans will oppose the measure when compared to their colleagues in the House.

In the end, close to 75 percent of the House GOP conference voted for the compromise bill. Of the 47 Republican senators, roughly a dozen have already announced they oppose the legislation, including both veteran lawmakers (Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah) and freshmen (Ron Johnson of Wisconsin).