We already know that Harry Reid is sending Sens. Patty Murray (D., Wash.), Max Baucus (D., Mont.), and John Kerry (D., Mass.) to the super-committee.
Today we learn the Republican picks in both the House and the Senate. Boehner is sending Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), Dave Camp (R., Mich.) and Fred Upton (R., Mich.). Mitch McConnell is sending Sens. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.), and Rob Portman (R., Ohio).
My two-bit reaction to those picks: The only real tea-party type to make it onto the committee is Toomey. Hensarling and Kyl are solid conservatives but also party leadership and Washington pros who know how the game is played. Kyl has somewhat of a deal-maker reputation and is retiring . . . . Camp and Upton are the House’s chief appropriator Ways and Means (which handles tax policy and entitlements) and Energy and Commerce chairs, respectively. The biggest wonk among the picks is Rob Portman, a former U.S. Trade Representative and OMB Director. He’s also been discussed as a future presidential candidate, so maybe he has the most to lose as well.
It’s also worth noting that all six Republicans have signed Grover’s pledge.
On the Democratic side: Kerry’s a liberal but also fancies himself an elder-statesman and a compromiser. Baucus is Reid’s budget chair, a mainstream Democrat and a process guy. Murray is a lightweight, who also happens to be the Senate Democrats’ lead fundraiser. She’ll co-chair the committee. Real nice. Also, none of them are up for re-election in 2012.
My takeaway, for what it’s worth: the Republican picks represent more principled conservatism than the Democratic picks represent principled liberalism. But the Republican picks also bring more serious wonkery and policy know-how.
Should be fun to see who Nancy Pelosi calls on.
Super Group? More like the Legion of Doom.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy on earth did Boehner not send Rep. Ryan???
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseExactly! I reread the article to make sure I didn't miss his name.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind...
Sometimes I wonder just what Congress is smoking.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRyan has released a statement that says he asked not to be on it so he could lead the budget reform debate this fall.
External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI eagerly await the prodigious progress on the issue this 6-6 committee will produce.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy on earth is Paul Ryan's name not on this list?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhere is Paul Ryan's name?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseShould be fun to see who Nancy Pelosi calls on.
-----------
She will find the most liberal of her party and maybe a few quacks
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePelosi's picks:
Charles Rangel
Tammy Baldwin
Any interchangeable liberal member of her own California caucus: Lee, Woolsey, Stark, Lofgren, plenty to choose from.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUpton has an American Conservative Union lifetime rating of 73.23, Hensarling of 98.96, and Camp of 88.87. In other words, Boehner's picks were quite a bit less conservative than Harry Reid's were liberal.
Ryan's is a 92.67. Hmm, wonder why he wasn't picked?
Kyle has a 96.72, Portman and Toomey are too new to rate.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePortman and Toomey are no strangers to D.C. Both were Congressmen before serving in the Senate.
Access the ACU website, and dial back on the calendar. You should look for mid-to-late 90's time frame. If memory serves, you can look up previous years.
Expect to find Toomey's rating akin to Hensarling's. And expect Portman's to look like Camp's.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePortman was an 89 lifetime ACU and Toomey a 97.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUpton and Portman look like the quislings who will cross the aisle and endorse a tax increase, which is the only thing likely to emerge from this exercise.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMyKu:
Dingy Harry says,
elated, "I love it when a
plan comes together."
----------------
So the Democrat send their Tax & Spend A-Team and we send the Bad News Bears with Toomey as the anchorman?
This ought to yield fantastic results.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUpton??? The guy is a RINO wannabe. This is not going to end well. Assuming Pelosi names all hard-lefties, he will probably end up being the one GOP member to cave.
Looks like Boehner screwed us, once again.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWow - S&P should just downgrade the US again right now, with a simple message of "get serious".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCamp, Upton, Kyl:
Expect tax increases. "Process guys" -- that is Beltway Code for GOP members caving in to liberal pressure politics, a dance these "process guys" have memorized by now. They could do that jig in their sleep. They probably DO dream of it, anyhow.
The art of "Let's Make a (liberal) Deal smell better" is their raison d'etre. Pat Toomey's in for the headache of his life, trying to talk turkey with these "process guys".
And the blip on Kerry is insufficient. When is the last time any of his proposals smacked of anything remotely centrist?
Lastly, don't be surprised if Nanny SanFranny sends one of her cartoon caricatures to the show, like Sheila Jackson-Lee or Dirty Sanchez from Los Angeles.
The end result of this unconstitutional committee will be so malodorous it will kill any entertainment value in watching them try to stay clean while filling the salted intestine with smoked bone grind.
Ah, well. For putting any reliance on GOP leadership, it is as CAPTCHA says: "Poetic justice"!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIs the Super Congress constitutional?
Also, who, seriously, thought that the GOP was going to put actual real conservatives up for the Super Congress? This is their way of neutering the Tea Party elements.
Now that the Super Congress holds the actual legislative power in the country, and is unelected, but appointed by party leadership, can we finally say that our Republic is dead?
All hail the Politburo! "They" know best who should represent you.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Is the Super Congress constitutional? "
Probably not, but the Supreme Court has been incredibly reluctant to judge Congress on how they make their laws, and have only evaluated the finished product of the legislative body. Put another way, so the long as the bill carries the signatures of the Speaker and the Leader and the President, the Court has never heard a case that challenged the actual legislative process of that bill.
I'd wager a week's pay that if a challenge was brought even by somebody with standing, that the case would still be dismissed as a nonjusticiable political question.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse