Brentwood Republican Marsha Blackburn says she’s “fairly confident” the so-called “Super Committee” will agree on $1.2 trillion in reductions to the federal deficit. This comes as others in Tennessee’s delegation have their doubts.
Congressman Blackburn says plenty of federal programs have outlived their usefulness and need to be axed. She’s also suggesting a rollback of environmental regulations in order to save money for the government and for private businesses.
While Blackburn sees plenty of cuts to choose from, she has not signed the letters calling for the Super Committee to “go big” and shoot for $4 trillion in cuts. That’s because those proposals leave open the door for tax increases.
“When you are in your 32nd, working on your 33rd month of unemployment above eight percent, you don’t need to be raising taxes on businesses, on individuals on job creators. What you need to be doing is saying, ‘ok, how do we reduce what the federal government spends?’”
The Super Committee has until Thanksgiving to decide. If not, automatic cuts go into effect.
Nashville Congressman Jim Cooper – a Democrat – says some healthcare lobbyists are hoping the Super Committee fails, figuring the automatic cuts may be more favorable to their industry than what panel would otherwise come up with.
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