Pennsylvania senator Pat Toomey has become the key negotiator for the debt supercommittee, POLITICO reports. Toomey, a tea party favorite, drafted a $1.5 trillion plan that would extend the Bush-era tax cuts and raise over $500 billion through tax increases and wide ranging tax reform.
Toomey was elected into office largely by tea party Republicans, but now his debt reduction plan is favored by some Democrats.
“If we can have the opportunity to generate the tremendous economic growth that has come from the tax reform, with simplifying the code, and avoid the biggest tax increase in American history, I think that’s worth paying the price” Toomey said in an interview with POLITICO Thursday. “If I were king, I wouldn’t do it this way; I’d do it differently. But I’m not king,” the Pennsylvania senator added.
Mike Lee, a Utah freshman Republican senator and co-founder of the Senate tea party, offered his take on Toomey’s plan; a plan which he does not completely support.
“I’m not going to say I’m against any plan until I’ve seen said plan in its entirety, but I’m against tax increases,” Lee said, referring to the elements of Toomey’s plan that include tax increases to generate new revenue.
Toomey told Reuters Thursday that he would try to amend some of the spending cuts that directly impact national security, however the leading Republican on the supercommittee did not confirm or deny any changes to his plan.
