By Erik Wasson
Liberal groups are going after a former Democratic presidential candidate who sits on the debt supercommittee and fretting about other Senate Democrats who they suspect are eager to strike a deal with Republicans.
The Massachusetts AFL-CIO and other labor entities in the state have passed resolutions calling on Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) to publicly oppose cuts to safety-net programs. Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee, is one of three Senate Democrats who sit on the supercommittee.
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“On behalf of all workers in our state and beyond, the Massachusetts labor movement urges Senator Kerry to capitalize on his historic role by preventing any cuts to the crucial safety net programs that support millions of Massachusetts families,” said Steven Tolman, President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO in a statement.
Liberals are worried about Democrats as well.moreYeah, tell that to those who like to portray progressives as anyone but Kerry.
The Nation:
Progressives on Supercommittee Marginalized Amidst Deficit Theater<...>
Reuters reported on the existence of a super-supercommittee—six members of the twelve-member supercommittee are negotiating a compromise amongst themselves. The Democratic members are Representative Chris van Hollen, and Senators Max Baucus and John Kerry.
That means Representatives Xavier Becerra and James Clyburn—the only true progressives on the committee—have been excluded from the negotiations. Becerra is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Clyburn has already reportedly opposed the Medicare cuts being discussed and spent most of his time at the hearing yesterday addressing income inequality, using charts that showed explosive growth in post-tax income for the top 1 percent.
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Not only is Kerry one of the more progressive Senators, but when the hell did Clyburn become a progressive?
Speaking of Bacerra...
Rep. Becerra: House Dems can be sold on entitlement reformsSupercommittee member Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that he was ready to go up against his party’s base by putting entitlement reform on the table and predicted that House Dems would back some reforms provided they were part of a balanced agreement.
“I’m ready to do that, and I believe that each one of my colleagues including the House Democrats are willing to put everything on the table,” said Becerra in an interview with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC.
Becerra was responding to a question from Mitchell on his desire for a “balanced” deal. “What about the possibility of entitlements? A balanced approach would mean taxes, entitlements, defense cuts and that would mean you would have to be going up against your base,” said Mitchell.
“Everyone’s got to have skin in the game, whether its those programs that are near and dear to our hearts because they worked well, because people have paid for them, Medicare, Social Security, or whether its Department of Defense which had the largest increase in spending,” said Becerra.
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Instead of trying to hype various members of Congress, maybe there should be a campaign to contact all of them to oppose these cuts.
Capitulation: 60 House DEMOCRATS Embrace Austerity, Sign-Off on Medicare Cuts, Defunding GovernmentRobert E. Andrews (N.J.)
John Barrow (Ga.)
Timothy Bishop (N.Y.)
Dan Boren (Okla.)
Leonard Boswell (Iowa)
Dennis Cardoza (Calif.)
John Carney (Del.)
Kathy Castor (Fla.)
Ben Chandler (Ky.)
Emanuel Cleaver II (Mo.)
Gerry Connolly (Va.)
Jim Cooper (Tenn.)
Jim Costa (Calif.)
Henry Cuellar (Texas)
Danny K. Davis (Ill.)
Peter DeFazio (Ore.)
Diana DeGette (Colo.)
Norm Dicks (Wash.)
Chaka Fattah (Pa.)
John Garamendi (Calif.)
Brian Higgins (N.Y.)
Jim Himes (Conn.)
Steny Hoyer (Md.)
Dale Kildee (Mich.)
Ron Kind (Wis.)
Rick Larsen (Wash.)
John Larson (Conn.)
Daniel Lipinski (Ill.)
David Loebsack (Iowa)
Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.)
Jim Matheson (Utah)
Mike McIntyre (N.C.)
Gregory Meeks (N.Y.)
James Moran (Va.)
William Owens (N.Y.)
Bill Pascrell (N.J.)
Ed Perlmutter (Colo.)
Gary Peters (Mich.)
Collin Peterson (Minn.)
Chellie Pingree (Maine)
Jared Polis (Colo.)
David Price (N.C.)
Mike Quigley (Ill.)
Nick Rahall (W.Va.)
Mike Ross (Ark.)
Steven Rothman (N.J.)
Dutch Ruppersberger (Md.)
Adam Schiff (Calif.)
Kurt Schrader (Ore.)
Allyson Schwartz (Pa.)
Terri Sewell (Ala.)
Heath Shuler (N.C.)
Adam Smith (Wash.)
Mike Thompson (Calif.)
Niki Tsongas (Mass.)
Peter Visclosky (Ind.)
Tim Walz (Minn.)
Mel Watt (N.C.)
Peter Welch (Vt.)
John Yarmuth (Ky.)
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