According to a report in The Hill today, Democrats on the supercommittee may be in a better position than Republicans. This is about what happens if the supercommittee fails to meet next week's deadline -- and most in Washington including (shhh!) the White House believe it will fail.
Unless Republicans cave on tax increases, there is little reason for Democrats to strike a deal because sequestration does not call for structural reforms to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.
Automatic cuts to Medicare would be capped at 2 percent and limited to insurance companies and healthcare providers while Social Security and Medicaid would be exempt.
The Defense Department is slated for $500 billion in cuts if the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction does not produce an agreement with at least $1.2 trillion in spending reductions.
Republican lawmakers have already called for halting those cuts. ...The Hill
In fact, Republican on the supercommittee are trying to overturn the sequester. Meanwhile, Democrats are prepared for reality.
Democrats, including members of the Senate Gang of Six — an informal bipartisan deficit task force — are preparing in case the supercommittee fails.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), a member of the Gang of Six, says the group has a bill drafted to move in case of failure. He said the package would cut nearly $4 trillion from the deficit — or nearly $3 trillion, not counting the $900 billion in cuts agreed to by Congress in August.
“We have a bill,” Conrad said.
But Conrad said he has refrained from pushing it in order not to step on the supercommittee.
