Congressional Dems want $3T in cuts

Congressional Democrats are urging the debt-reduction supercommittee to pursue a far-reaching agreement to slice $3 trillion from the federal budget over the next decade through significant cuts to federal health programs, including Medicare, and as much as $1.3 trillion in new taxes.

At a closed-door meeting Tuesday, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) told his colleagues on the panel that they should pick up where President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) left off in negotiations this summer during a bitter battle to raise the federal debt limit, according to congressional aides in both parties familiar with the meeting. Obama and Boehner were discussing a plan that included provisions to raise taxes, raise the Medicare eligibility age and use a less generous measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits.

Speaking on behalf of a majority of Democrats on the panel, Baucus proposed that the committee look at slightly larger revenue increases, the aides said. That idea faced immediate push-back from Republicans on the panel, who have consistently refused to consider raising revenue through any means other than economic growth.

Savings under the plan would be about equally divided between tax increases and spending cuts, including as much as $500 billion in fresh savings from health programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Aides said Baucus also urged his colleagues to approve Obama's request for as much as $300 billion in fresh measures aimed at stimulating the economy, another idea Republicans have resisted.

The offer represents the thinking of Democratic leaders in both chambers, and marks an attempt to jump-start the talks. With a Thanksgiving deadline fast approaching, the two sides have yet to breach the impasse over taxes that has for months stymied ambitious efforts at debt reduction. Boehner twice walked out of negotiations with Obama this summer, blaming differences over taxes.

"This was a good-faith effort to put something on the table to see what kind of response we would get," said one Democrat familiar with the talks.

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) broached similar ideas in a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Boehner. Democratic aides said the goal was to see if a big deal could come together.