By Dillon Tabish, 11-21-11
HELENA — U.S. Sen. Max Baucus on Monday blamed "timid" colleagues too fearful of losing their jobs for the failure of the congressional supercommittee to reach a deficit-reduction deal.
Baucus said in an interview Monday that he thought the supercommittee was close to a bargain several weeks ago. He said he and a leading Republican were swapping plans to cut spending in programs and raise tax revenue from the wealthiest in a way that was "painful for both sides" of Congress.
The Montana Democrat, discussing the talks that took most of his time this fall, said he felt other members of the panel could agree to the deal. But it was scuttled once details were circulated to congressional leadership, and top Republicans bucked at the tax hike portion.
"Essentially, the Republican leadership said 'that is too much revenue,'" Baucus said.
"I can tell you there was a lot of angst from Democrats around that proposal, too," Baucus said. "It was balanced. It was fair. It was tough on both sides."
It was announced Monday that the bipartisan panel was disbanding after failing to reach an agreement before a deadline to do so. Republicans blamed the Democrats, arguing the deficit problem is caused by too much spending rather than insufficient tax revenue.
Baucus said the panel's members were "too afraid to go the extra mile to reach an agreement for fear of losing their jobs." He said the political environment is making compromise nearly impossible.
"It's a deep political chasm — a gulf — in America today. It makes it very difficult for leaders to step up and lead," said Baucus, long known as a dealmaker in Congress. "Too many members of Congress are too timid, too worried about losing their jobs."
Under the law that established the committee last summer, failure by the six Republicans and six Democrats to reach a compromise will trigger about $1 trillion in automatic spending cuts in military and domestic government programs beginning in 2013. But even as the panel broke apart, lawmakers started looking for other ways to avoid the cuts.
"While I'm deeply disappointed that some members of the committee chose to miss an incredible opportunity today, I'm not giving up because the nation's mounting deficit still requires a courageous solution," Baucus said. "Tomorrow is a new day with new opportunities to tackle our fiscal deficit and our jobs deficit — which go hand in hand."
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