Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss leveled sharp criticism at his Republican colleagues for spouting “misinformation” about the Gang of Six’s proposal, calling their remarks “very disturbing” and questioning their desire to pass a deficit-cutting deal. “Because people are here on this floor throwing out numbers that are wrong, giving specifics on a piece of legislation that has not even been written, and they’re talking like they’re experts on the subject of a matter that my five colleagues and I have been discussing, debating among ourselves for the last six months,” Chambliss said on the floor. “And we haven’t even put the legislation out there yet.”
He added: “So it’s really pretty disturbing to me that there are some people in this body that want to see nothing done, and I assume want us to continue down the road of borrowing 40 cents out of every dollar that we are spending,” Chambliss said. “And I’m not willing to do that. … The only way we’re going to solve this fiscal problem that we have is to generate 60 votes in this body in support of some proposal.”
A brief outline of the proposal was circulated Tuesday by Chambliss and the group’s two other Republicans – Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) – along with Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Dick Durbin of Illinois. The plan aims at cutting the deficit by $3.7 trillion over the next decade, with cuts to entitlement programs and discretionary spending and an increase in tax revenue by $1 trillion. By repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax, the overall plan would amount to a net tax decrease, the group says.
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