House Budget ranking member Chris Van Hollen said conservative Republicans should relax their demands for budget reforms in negotiating a debt limit increase.
He added that he’s optimistic that the group will put forth a plan. “Look, I have spent eight months on the commission — the [president’s] fiscal commission,” he said. “I have spent five months in this negotiation. I wouldn’t have spent all this time if I didn’t think there was a serious chance of reaching an agreement.”
Conrad said he was not prepared to weigh in on a proposal that would cap deficits, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has endorsed. Conrad said he first needs to see the details, but ultimately he wants a comprehensive plan that includes tax and spending reforms.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, appearing on the same program, challenged Conrad’s bipartisan group to release an alternative to the budget resolution authored by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), which the lower chamber passed along party lines last month.
“We’ve got an unsustainable system when it comes to Medicare,” the South Carolina Republican said. “What Paul Ryan did, he saved it from what I believe to be a complete failure over time. If you can get a better way to do it, do it. But just criticizing someone who is trying to fix a problem doesn’t impress me. You’ve got a better alternative, put it on the floor and let’s vote on it.”
Ryan’s plan doesn’t have the votes to pass in the Senate, Graham added. Ryan, who appeared on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, acknowledged his plan “could hurt us politically.” But, he said, “I don’t care about that.”
Lois Lerner, director of exempt organizations for the IRS, arrives for a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the investigation of the IRS' targeting of political groups. Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not testify and caused a protest from some committee members when she offered an opening statement and engaged in dialogue with members before invoking the right.
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